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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28120920">A Strange New Little Brother</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittyface27/pseuds/kittyface27'>kittyface27</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>One Piece</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ace is adorable, Adventure, Alive Thatch (One Piece), Brotherly Love, Child Portgas D. Ace, Cute, Drama, Fluff, Gen, Gyojin-tou | Fishman Island, Journey, Made up creature, Marco's POV, New World (One Piece), Portgas D. Ace Lives, Shirohige Kaizoku-dan | Whitebeard Pirates, Shirohige | Whitebeard | Edward Newgate Lives, ace isn't human, ace isn't the best at speaking, helping out protected islands, mystery island, nonhuman character, stowaway, teach is a jerk</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:00:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>43,985</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28120920</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittyface27/pseuds/kittyface27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Whitebeards finds something has ransacked their food supply, they didn't expect to find some strange, unknown creature, intelligent and able to speak and think. He becomes a beloved little brother who lights up the crew when they go through hard times. The good and the bad, their little brother is precious.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco &amp; Portgas D. Ace, Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco &amp; Whitebeard Pirates, Portgas D. Ace &amp; Shirohige | Whitebeard | Edward Newgate, Portgas D. Ace &amp; Thatch, Portgas D. Ace &amp; Whitebeard Pirates</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>67</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>270</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Mystery Stowaway</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><strong>Here with a very different fluffy story! A kind of weird one. Ace's design was heavily inspired by Faputa from Made In Abyss manga. I </strong> <strong>recommend</strong> <strong> checking her out if you want an accurate visual. He has some changed features, like the fur, hands and tail, but otherwise is very similar to Faputa. She's so fucking cute when she isn't </strong> <strong>homicidal</strong> <strong>. I have all sorts of stories with this design cause I love it, but none are really working out but this one. Enjoy!</strong></p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Edit: link to Ace drawing at bottom!</strong>
</p><hr/><p>"This place kind of gives me the creeps," Thatch said as they walked through the forest, trying to find food they could bring with them since this island had no human settlements. And they found out why fairly quickly. Not because it was dangerous, not really, but because of what lived on this island, in the forests and mountains.</p><p>Very unsettling looking animals and insects. They were completely undefinable, the pirates having never seen creatures like this before. The insects were large, looked like massive, red mosquitoes, though they never approached the humans, and seemed to feed off tree sap. They saw multiple groups of them feeding off trees that they avoided.</p><p>Then there were the hairy ones that glowed, even in the light, lighting up the darker parts of the forest. Many had large, razor sharp teeth and they followed the pirates, though they hadn't given off any sense of aggression. Creepy they may be, they only seemed curious. There were some deer like ones, who had glowing spots as well.</p><p>Monkeys with six arms and spiked tails ran in the trees above their heads. Marco was perfectly calm, while Thatch and Haruta wanted to leave, even if they were the ones to suggest going there. The other pirates were on the beach, off of the ship but not in the forest full of creepy and unfamiliar beings.</p><p>One that looked like a horse with an ant eater's head walked right in front of them, not paying attention. They stopped to let it pass, Haruta and Thatch holding hands to comfort in the scary place. They were finding no food, but they had gone in quite a ways, so they needed to turn back. The only one who didn't want to was Marco, fascinated by everything.</p><p>Thatch screamed when a massive butterfly like creature landed on his shoulder. "Get it off, get it off!" Thatch screeched, but it left, flying away without anything bad happening. "Please, Marco, let's leave!" Haruta nodded in agreement. Marco sighed and caved, walked with them back through the interesting forest and onto the beach to go back to the ship.</p><p>They were leaving that day, since there was nothing there to stock up on and they hadn't found any trace of edible foods. No fruits or nuts or anything. Hopefully they had enough food to make it to the next island, but it wasn't for sure. When they reached the beach, Thatch and Haruta ran out and to Izo, crying about how creepy everything was.</p><p>Pops asked Marco if there was any food. He shook his head. There was nothing there that looked edible. He was asked what was in the forest. "Many things I don't think we'll see anywhere else. They were actually pretty interesting looking," he said lightly. He added that they scared Thatch and Haruta. Pops laughed, and pointed out to his sons they were the ones who wanted to go in.</p><p>They both frowned and said they hadn't known there were creepy monsters in there. "Did any of them harm you?" Izo asked, looking up from his book. Thatch mumbled a "No", and Marco chuckled.</p><p>He sensed things coming out of the sand below them, black and blue crab like creatures with large fangs. It bit Marco's ankle, and everyone went running to the ship when a large amount of them came out of the sand and moved to bite ankles. So, they all got back on the ship, Marco collecting everything since he was unharmed, and got ready to depart.</p><p>When the ship pulled away, Marco was on the deck, a bit disappointed to not be able to explore some more. He watched in intrigue when a long neck came out of the trees, the head flat and almost faceless. Now that was creepy. And it was huge! It suddenly shimmered away, like it wasn't there in the first place.</p><p>What a missed opportunity, to not study them more. And they'd probably never return to that island. As they sailed away further, Marco, and now Pops as well, watched as the island disappeared. "I wish I could have spent more time there," Marco said regretfully. "Barely got to see any of the creatures up close."</p><p>Whitebeard put a hand on Marco's shoulder, saying maybe they would go back some day and stay longer. "Hope so," Marco said. Then he heard shouting coming from inside, and both of the highest ranking members hurried to find what the problem was. They found Thatch ranting and raving in one of the storage rooms.</p><p>It was a mess. The crates were ripped open and bags of food and cans had been opened and eaten from. There was food everywhere. Food they needed to live off of. They could always go fishing and hunt sea kings, but Thatch demanded everyone have a balanced diet. "Something got on the ship and ransacked the food!" the chef shouted. "And the door was closed, too!" He started to try and clean everything up, and Marco grew worried. He looked at one of the mostly empty cans of cold soup, and saw it had a slash through it. Maybe from claws. Had one of the creatures gotten onto the ship and ate their food?</p><p>Was it still there? He hurried out of the room and told everybody he passed to start looking for any sort of animal that shouldn't be there. They were all confused and a bit worried, even more so when Marco told them one of the storage rooms had been raided by something. Clearly not one of the humans, so something else.</p><p>They searched room from room, and Marco heard noises coming from the bathroom. He opened the door and saw nothing was there, but the noises continued. Little grunting noises and grumbles. He cautiously walked deeper into the room, looking in the shower stalls, but seeing nothing. Finally, his haki managed to pick something up.</p><p>There was something in there that shouldn't be. But he couldn't see it. He saw soap bars that had bite marks in them, but only one, and small at that. Whatever it was was not big, which was a relief. The noises stopped and Marco felt the creature dart out of the room and into the hall. He chased after it.</p><p>"I won't hurt you! I promise!" Marco called as he chased the fast moving presence that was invisible to him. His haki let him follow it, but soon it was out of reach when it jumped into the vent, putting the grate off and making echoing noises as it ran through the ventilation system. "Fuck," he swore. He had no idea where it would go now. And not everyone on the ship knew haki.</p><p>Only the higher ups and those that had been there longer than the others. He told the commanders and captain what had happened, and they were worried about it being invisible but with claws. They searched every room that had a larger vent opening in it. They couldn't hear noises of claws tapping on the metal inside the shafts. They told everybody to be silent, trying to listen for any sounds.</p><p>Namur heard something first, a little growling noise from one of the bedrooms for the sixth division. They crowded around the door and opened it slowly. The noises stopped, but Jozu was there in front of the vent so the creature couldn't get out. Screeches were made, sounding demanding. Jozu didn't move, but whatever was in there with him didn't attack, despite being cornered. They could tell it crawled under one of the bottom bunks.</p><p>"We're not gonna hurt you. If you come out, we can try and figure out how to get you back." Marco exchanged a worried glance with the others. The island was gone. Not just invisible, but it had disappeared. Whatever was in there had no way to get back. It made Marco feel pity for it. What would they do with it?</p><p>The ship had two weeks until the next island. Marco would refuse to toss it overboard, they weren't cruel like that. They were the ones that sailed away from the island when it was still on board. Sure, they didn't ask or want it on the ship, but maybe they should have searched first. There had been many instances where various animals ventured onto the ship.</p><p>And there had been a couple times that said animal had gotten into the food and eaten some. Marco crouched down and tried to look under the bed. "We won't hurt you," Marco said kindly, again.</p><p>"<em>We won urt oo," </em>the creature mimicked. Marco shared a surprise look with those in the room. It didn't sound like a snobby sound, of course, but just a voice copying his words. Marco reached under to try and pull it out. It screeched, not words again. Marco was able to grab hold of it and try to pull it out, but it dug its claws into the floor.</p><p>The phoenix could see six claw marks appear as it dug its feet into the wood. So, six legs. Definitely one of the animals from the island. Not a regular one, as far as he knew, no animal had six legs. He wondered what it looked like. Marco couldn't pull it out, so he stopped trying. He asked Thatch to get something sweet.</p><p>After all, what it had eaten most was the condensed milk, sweet and rich. When Thatch came back, it was with various types of desserts. Pops suggested they leave, but for Jozu and Marco. Jozu to block the vent and Marco to try and coax it out. He put the desserts on the floor in front of the bed.</p><p>The two commanders could hear sniffing sounds, feeling it move forward. The brownie was pulled under the bed instantly and it disappeared as it was devoured. After all it had eaten, Marco wondered how it could still be hungry. He moved the dishes further away, and the creature crawled after it.</p><p>It cared more about food than being captured, since it was right in front of Marco, who caught it. It thrashed around in his grip, scratching Marco, but it didn't seem intentional. He got nicked while it squirmed around. "Why don't you show yourself?"</p><p>"<em>Ow urself," </em>it mimicked.</p><p>"That's right. Let us see you. We won't hurt you. And you can turn invisible after we figure out what to do for you," Marco said reasonably. He used "for" instead of "to" since it sounded less threatening. It finally showed itself, though it hissed.</p><p>It had six legs. Well, four arms and two back legs, with a fluffy tail. It's face looked rather human, actually. Big, dark brown eyes and two very long ears that drooped down. It spit angrily at Marco. The skin was gray while the fur on its head, ears, limbs and tail were all jet black. It would blend in in the dark perfectly, but not in the light of the room.</p><p>"My name is Marco. This is Jozu. We won't hurt you," Marco insisted.</p><p>"'<em>Ace. Ace," </em>it snarled back. Marco blinked widely. Did it just introduce itself? He asked if "Ace" was its name. It just growled. Marco stood up and set it on the bed. It ran to the wall and climbed up it before hanging from the roof of the bottom bunk, glaring at Marco. It was maybe the size of a medium sized dog.</p><p>"Ace, did you eat the food?" It was obvious, but small talk might help.</p><p>"<em>Ea foo," </em>it said back. Marco didn't know if that was confirmation, or just another mimicked sentence. The commander asked if it had a family. He had no idea how old it was. It looked like a child in some way, but he didn't know what it was, so knowing its age wouldn't be easy to learn unless it spoke back.</p><p>"<em>Fami, age," </em>it said. Marco felt they were getting nowhere with the answers. He picked up the tray of sweets and set it on the bed below the thing. It dropped down and started eating it all, not even waiting to really see what the food was. Marco asked if he liked it. No answer, but the enthusiastic eating was answer enough.</p><p>"My brother Thatch made that. He's the head chef on the Moby Dick. He can be stupid sometimes, but we love him," Marco said, trying to calm it down. It seemed to be working, maybe also because Marco was sitting below him on the floor. Ace was higher on the bed. He licked the plate clean and then hid under a pillow.</p><p>"<em>Moby Ick," </em>it mimicked. Marco honestly didn't know if he could understand him. He deemed Ace a male by its appearance. He could be wrong, but he wasn't about to turn Ace over and see if he was a boy or a girl.</p><p>The first mate nodded, saying that was the name of this ship. Jozu was staying quiet and still, not really noticeable when Ace's full attention was on Marco. "Ace, did you leave your parent? Maybe a mama or papa?" Ace didn't respond but hackles being raised. Maybe Marco had offended it somehow. But still, he looked young. "Do you have anyone to go back to?"</p><p>If he did, Marco really wanted to take him back, but they had no real idea on how they would get there. Was Ace trapped with them? He hoped not. It would be scary to be him and surrounded by big humans, unknown creatures since it seemed nobody had stepped foot on that mysterious island in a long time, if ever.</p><p>Ace hissed, maybe not liking the question, though Marco didn't know if he could understand him. So he asked if Ace was able to tell what he was saying. It didn't reply or make any sort of gesture like a nod. "<em>Unertan," </em>it replied after a beat of silence. Marco still didn't know if that meant he did understand or he was just repeating what the blonde man had said.</p><p>The creature started to cough, hack, so Marco asked Jozu to get him some water. He left, making Ace hiss when he walked past, and came back not later and put a bowl of water in front of him. Ace crawled forward, keeping the pillow on top of him and sniffed the water before using its two front arms to pick it up and drink from it.</p><p>So it could use its claws like fingers. It was so interesting. Marco was trying to hide his fascination, but it was difficult. But whatever it was seemed to have calmed down quite a bit, though he was still hiding under the pillow. Not a good hiding place at all, it would be better to hide under the blankets.</p><p>"A more secure place to hide would be under the blankets. Not the pillow," Marco said nicely. He got the first inkling that Ace could understand him when it burrowed under the sheets on the bed. "Can I bring my captain in? He won't hurt you, though he'd large." A little grunting noise came out of the blanket, muted from the barrier.</p><p>Marco shared a look with Jozu, who shrugged. The moment Marco opened the door, Ace tried to bolt out, but Marco caught him around the middle. He wasn't going to let him run away and disappear again. Pops came in, and Ace squirmed out and returned to under the bed. The captain looked surprised by its appearance, since he hadn't seen any of the other animals on the island. Only the three of them had entered, everybody else getting uncomfortable vibes from the mystery island.</p><p>"This is Ace. He's afraid, so don't talk too loud," Marco told his father. "<em>O don alk oo loud," </em>the voice copied. Pops looked shocked, and Marco said he was copying what he was saying. He was asked if Ace had hurt them at all. "No, he's just been hiding. I don't know what we should do. How do we get him back?"</p><p>"<em>O o ack, o o ack." </em>Marco didn't know if he was saying "go back" or "no back". Pops asked if it wanted to go back to the island. Ace hissed.</p><p>"I'll take that as a no. But that island is your home. We have nowhere else to take you," the captain said reasonably, keeping his voice low and hiding any sense of superiority. Like he was speaking to a frightened child that he was trying to soothe. The blankets moved around, but Ace didn't come out.</p><p>The yonko said he wasn't sure about what they should do. The island seemed to be gone, its presence having disappeared along with its appearance. "We would need to keep him here for now. I won't throw him overboard or anything cruel like that. The next island is inhabited." He sighed, very much not knowing what to do. "Maybe we should turn around and go back."</p><p>"<em>O o back!" </em>the creature screeched. Whitebeard then asked if he wanted to stay there. A hiss. Pops put his hand to his forehead. Well, for now they'd take care of him and look for his home island, even if he might choose not to go back on.</p><p>"We'll take care of you for now. Feed you and give you water," Pops said. "We won't be cruel to you or hurt you. Please don't hurt us either." Ace's head peeked out of the sheets, surprising the three. He narrowed his eyes, but then sunk back so only the front of his face was visible. "Would you like to stay in here? Or learn how to get around the ship? We won't trap you in one room or confine you, but please don't ransack anymore food or hurt anybody or anything."</p><p>Ace didn't hiss this time, but cocked his head, narrowing his eyes. Marco got the impression that he was actually smart, even if he hadn't shown any clear sign that he was. "Do you promise? To be peaceful on the ship?" Marco asked.</p><p>"<em>Romise?" </em>Marco nodded, saying it meant he would make sure not to hurt anything. "<em>Hurt?"</em></p><p>Marco nodded again, and took a framed photo off the wall. They had plenty to replace. He broke it in half. "Hurt." Then he took a piece of glass and nicked Pops' arm. "Hurt," Marco said, trying to show him what he meant. Ace said, "<em>O hurt." </em>Marco smiled, thanking him. He stood up, as did Pops, and walked to the door and opened it wide.</p><p>Ace didn't leave the sheets. "Whenever you want to venture out, you can." Ace looked down at the broken frame, seeming to scowl at it. Like it was bothering him. He came out of the covers and jumped down off the bed and walked to the frame. He poke it and then put his clawed hands over it.</p><p>The three watched in shock as the frame warped back into place. "<em>O hurt," </em>Ace said, crawling back under the covers. Marco <em>knew </em>he was smart! He couldn't communicate too well, but he clearly understood what they were saying. Marco took the frame and put it back on the wall.</p><p>"Can you fix Pops' cut?" Marco wondered.</p><p>The man said, "Let's not try to overwhelm him. The cut is nothing big, it's no problem." Ace stayed under the sheets. Marco nodded, and walked forward. Ace burrowed under the covers more, even if Marco had given no sign he'd harm him. He pulled the sheet off of the top bunk and draped it over half of the side, so he had the option to hide behind it, which he did.</p><p>The three left the room, Jozu putting the vent back in place. Commanders were peeking into the room, but Pops told them to disperse and leave the room be, leave him be. But he did call for a meeting. They all did so, Thatch looking back at the door one more time, looking irate but also amazed and curious.</p><p>When they got to the meeting room, Marco explained everything that had happened. "Why doesn't he want to go back?" Marco shrugged, saying they had gotten no answer other than being firmly told he didn't want to go back.</p><p>Thatch complained that he wanted to see him. They weren't deaf from the little grunting in the vents. Hey looked up at it, but saw nothing. "Don't worry, I'm convinced that he will not hurt or damage anything more," Pops said. Then they heard Ace leave down the vents, heading somewhere else. Thatch said he had to go get started on dinner, and grumbled about the missing food again.</p><p>"He probably didn't know we needed that food," Haruta said. Thatch said he knew, but it was still irritating. Marco said they should tell everyone at dinner about the situation. Everybody else agreed, and stood up to leave. Marco wanted to know what Ace was doing, where he was going.</p><p>Pops' observation was decades better than Marco's, so he was able to sense Ace when he focused a bit. "He appears to be in the commanders' bathroom. I think he's getting into the bath," he said in amusement. Marco chuckled. "Despite his hostile demeanor, I think that he is intelligent and peaceful as long as he's left alone, not cornered again." Marco agreed with that.</p><p>When they saw pirates looking around in nervousness, Marco told them that the creature would most likely not approach them and they should not be afraid. When dinner was started, they'd learn more about the situation, but for now, not to fret. Many still looked worried, but they nodded.</p><p>"So, what is the thing, commander?" Teach asked curiously when Marco passed him in the hall.</p><p>"We're not sure, but his name is Ace and he can understand what we're saying. So don't bad mouth him or anything. It might upset or anger him," Marco replied. Teach promised he wouldn't, but said it was strange that they were letting him stay on. "It's not like we can really put him anywhere. As long as he doesn't hurt anyone. I don't think there's a problem with keeping him here for now.</p><p>"His island disappeared, but he appears to not want to go back, leaving us with a problem. We can't be stopped too long to think about it with having limited supplies and food. We'll most likely figure out what to do tomorrow." He told Teach more than the others since he was one of those that Marco had known the longest.</p><p>The large man nodded, and continued on his way. When Marco checked the bedroom, Ace was not there. So, he was exploring most likely.</p><p>At dinner time, Pops announced the situation and plan. He said he'd think about what to do that night and come up with a decision in the morning. Everybody turned to their food, but the commanders felt a small presence enter the room. The fridge opened on it's own, but then Ace became visible for them all to see, though most of the room would be unable to see him at that angle.</p><p>They pretended not to be watching as he climbed up the appliance, looking for anything tasty. Thatch was thrumming his fingers nervously, not knowing what the little thing would do. The others were just looking at his strange appearance. Six legs with big ears, the shape of a foxes, drooping down on either side of his head.</p><p>He seemed to have made a decision when he pulled out a bin of leftover chicken. "That's fine for him to eat, it's nearly bad," Thatch said, sounding relieved. Ace was seen scarfing down the chicken before licking the tub. Thatch commented that he sure ate a lot. They were all still watching while the nameless creature looked around the kitchen, inspecting things.</p><p>He jumped onto the counter, and Marco stopped Thatch from getting up. "I want to see what he does." Ace inspected everything, still not bringing attention to himself, as he was quiet. He looked in the sink, and figured out how to use the faucet. He sniffed the water before jumping off of the counter and out of sight.</p><p>Then the bin was tossed up and landed in the sink loudly, though it didn't break anything. He jumped up, put some water in the bin and then dropped down. He then went running out of the kitchen and into the hallway behind it. The commanders were all in shock. He deduced that dirty dishes went into the sink and needed the to soak with water.</p><p>"He's extremely intelligent. At first I thought he just mimicked what I said like a parrot. And he seemed really aggressive, but not threatening. But he understood what 'don't hurt' meant. I wouldn't be surprised if he learns to speak by listening to us," Marco hypothesized. Blenheim asked if they thought it was dangerous for him to become so smart.</p><p>Pops said he didn't know, but for now believed he wouldn't harm anybody. "Just as a precaution, we'll have all of the bedroom doors locked for the night and the vents sealed shut more tightly," the captain said. The commanders nodded, and continued with their food. Marco was extremely interested in Ace. He'd most likely never come into contact with anything like Ace, so he wanted to learn as much as possible.</p><p>When they were retiring for the night after weighing anchor, Marco went into the bedroom Ace had been in, and found him sleeping on his side on the top bunk, reminding Marco of a relaxed cat. "Ace?" Marco asked from the doorway. "Ace," he repeated a bit louder. The creature jerked awake and hid under the blankets again. "We have to have people sleep in here. This is a bedroom, where humans sleep. Those are beds. They need them to sleep on," Marco explained as best as he could.</p><p>"<em>Ace bed, no uman," </em>Ace protested. Marco explained that he had a bed made for him in another room. That it had more pillows and blankets to sleep under or on top of. Ace narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but seemed to accept things and climbed down the ladder of the bunk expertly. He used his four hands like a human, but still walked on all of them.</p><p>He followed Marco, and the phoenix could feel his gaze on his back. He opened a storage room, this one not with food but supplies. There was a mattress on the ground, piled with blankets and pillows. Ace walked onto it and sniffed it before burrowing under the blankets. "Good night, Ace," Marco said, turning off the light.</p><p>"<em>Ood nigh," </em>Ace replied, sounding sleepy. Marco closed the door lightly, and pressed his ear to it, able to hear easily the little creature letting out soft breaths of being asleep. He headed to his room, and went to bed. But he had trouble sleeping, wondering if Ace would sleep through the night, or go exploring while everybody else was asleep.</p><p>He felt he wouldn't cause any trouble, but he could see him going around in rooms that weren't locked. All of the bedrooms were locked but for the commanders and captain. They felt they were fine, and wouldn't be scared if Ace went into their rooms on a nightly exploration.</p><p> </p><p>
  
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  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Faupta's Blessing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Anime_Moon00: Thanks! I made Ace adorable, as much as I could. He's so sweet and innocent.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Guest: Ace is just a random creature. Not related to anybody. He isn't related to Roger or Rouge or his brothers. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Otaku_Girl2176: Thank you! I hope people stick around (though I know you will lol), but it is kind of short. My latest unedited stories are only in the 40,000s words. :( I just finished editing a 100,000 word one, but the others are so short! I have five more to edit and then all 8 will be ready to be posted. (And BTW, I love your angsty fic, Pulse. It's so depressing and I fucking love it lol)</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Sweet2pea: Thank you! I tried to draw Ace as best as I could but it's not really how I wanted it to turn out. :( I hope you stick around through to the end!</strong>
</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>OMG I can't get over how wholesome chapter 999 was! OMG, so cute I loved it. So bittersweet! I can't wait for it to be animated, though it will take a long time -_-. Anyways, enjoy~</strong>
</p><hr/><p>Marco did fall asleep, and when he woke, he showered and then got dressed, leaving the room and finding Pops smiling in amusement as he left his room. Marco asked what was funny. "Somebody came into the vent in my room last night, where he slept for a few hours. I found a pillow inside."</p><p>The first mate was shocked. Why would Ace have gone and slept in Pops' room? He asked if he was still there. But apparently he left once the sun rose, but left the pillow there, which the captain hadn't removed. They headed to breakfast, both intrigued. "Did you make a decision? About what to do?"</p><p>Whitebeard said he felt Ace would be easier to speak with now that he had human vocabulary a bit. He would speak with him, asking what he wanted to do. Marco raised his brows and then smiled. "You've grown attached, haven't you?" Pops denied it, but Marco knew he was lying. So, the man told the truth, and said he had a feeling that Ace could belong there if he had no home to go back to.</p><p>But first they needed to know why he didn't want to go back. Depending on the reason, they might take him back regardless. If it was a small problem, then they would judge it. But if it was something big, that would complicate things.</p><p>The two of them went to the room he'd been at the beginning of the night before he went to Pops' room, and found him under the blankets. "Ace? Ace, we have to speak with you," Marco said. There was movement under the blankets, but he didn't come out. So, he was awake. He didn't need to watch them to have a conversation.</p><p>Both of the higher ups entered the room and closed the door most of the way. There was a crack open in case he felt cornered. "Can you tell us why you don't wish to go back to the island?" They didn't know its name, so it was just "the island". Ace's head peeked out of the blankets. "Will you please tell us?" Marco asked, voice light and not a trace of any sort of threat in it. No impatience.</p><p>"<em>Dey no like Ace," </em>he said, vocabulary much better. But he might have spent much of the day before spying on people, hearing their conversations and picking up words and the ability to carry on a conversation. He wasn't mimicking anymore, but taking what he'd heard and using it.</p><p>Pops asked why the didn't like him. "<em>Look diffrent," </em>Ace replied. Marco asked if he looked different from others like him. He nodded, glaring at them, maybe thinking they were judging him. He was asked what others like him looked like. "<em>All fur. Ace not all fur." </em>He'd learned to speak so fast. It was incredible.</p><p>"Do they shun you?" Ace cocked his head. "They don't welcome you?"</p><p>"<em>Ace wrong to dem," </em>he replied. He could pronounce 't's now. Marco frowned for him, and so did Pops. Marco knew what it was like to be shunned by other people. When he ate his devil fruit as a child, he was rejected because he was a fruit user, which was seen as a curse on his home island.</p><p>"Would you like to stay with us? Instead of going back?" Pops offered. Ace narrowed his eyes suspiciously, and asked why. "I can read others well. I can read you, too. You are a good creature, I think you won't hurt us."</p><p>"<em>No hurt anybody. Not know. Not stay, not know," </em>Ace replied. Pops said he'd give him some time to think about it. Then he said, "<em>No pet. Ace no pet."</em></p><p>Marco said they wouldn't think of him as a pet. He was too smart. Ace seemed to understand compliments somehow. His lips pursed, but Marco could tell it was some sort of smile. "We'll give you time to think. Would you like us to bring some food?" Ace nodded. So Marco and Pops left to the kitchen to get him some food.</p><p>It didn't really seem like he was picky. He had eaten all sorts of foods and nothing bad had happened to him. Maybe he could handle human food easily. They went into the kitchen, and Thatch handed them a plate. It had all sorts of breakfast foods on it. It was prepared for Ace, a bowl of water on the tray.</p><p>The two smiled and thanked him. They went back to the room that was opened just a crack and saw Ace was looking at the blanket with a clear frown. They saw that there was a hole in it. "Don't worry about that, nobody uses that blanket. Why don't you fix it?"</p><p>"<em>Ace not much. Too much?"</em></p><p>"You can't heal things very often?" Marco asked for clarification. Ace shook his head. Said it made him sleepy. So it drained his energy. It was good to know. People wouldn't expect him to fix things if he did stay. They put the tray down, and Ace walked to it, on all sixes, and sniffed things before eating them.</p><p>He took some drinks from the water bowl. "We'll leave you to eat," Pops said, and the two of them left the room, closing the door almost all the way. Marco could hear Ace scarfing down the large helping of food. "He's gotten much better at speaking. I wonder if he could learn math, too," Marco mused.</p><p>"Who knows?" Whitebeard asked, but sounded very interested himself. "I do wonder what made him choose to sleep in my room. I would have expected it would be you." Marco nodded, agreeing with that.</p><p>Then he smiled and said everybody could agree that being with the captain was soothing. "Maybe he sensed that? I wonder why he looks different. Why he's not all fur. He has an almost human like face." Pops agreed with this. Maybe someday he could explain to them, if he knew why he looked that way.</p><p>When they got back to the kitchen, both men served themselves and went to the table, where Namur, Vista, Fossa and Haruta all were. Haruta asked how Ace was, knowing Thatch gave him food. "He slept in Pops' room. Dragged a pillow into the vent." The others were surprised with this. "Don't know why, and neither of us mentioned it."</p><p>Pops told them about why he didn't wish to go back to the island, and the commanders felt bad for him. Many knew what it was like to be shunned for their appearances. "I offered for him to stay if he wished. He needs time to think about it."</p><p>Vista asked if that was really a good idea. Marco reasoned that he couldn't see Ace getting violent after he was cornered and captured and hadn't attacked them even when Marco grabbed him. "I think he's good," Pops said, taking a long sip of his coffee. "But he won't be a sort of pet if he decides to stay."</p><p>Some of the commanders were reserved about it, but others didn't see any problem. As they heard the news as the table filled with the fifteen commanders. When Pops looked over Marco's shoulder, he turned around and saw Ace trotting over, holding the tray above his back. He was moving on the front arms and the back legs, with the middle limbs holding the tray above him.</p><p>But he stopped, clearly not knowing how to get everything in the sink. Thatch stood and walked over. Marco watched Ace get on guard until Thatch opened the dishwasher, the massive one, and explained that most dishes went in there, not the sink. He stood back as Ace put everything inside it.</p><p>Then he ran off, now on all six limbs. Thatch came back with a smile. "He said a thank you," Thatch said, sitting down and eating with a smile. "He's so adorable."</p><p>Atmos said he creeped him out a bit. "Cause he has six legs?" Marco wondered. "The other creatures in the forest of that island were much more unsettling. Fascinating, but unknown and unsettling," the blonde said. Haruta and Thatch nodded. The figures in the forest were much more creepy than Ace was. So fluffy.</p><p>After breakfast, Marco went looking for Ace, but couldn't find him until he caught a glimpse of something black on the highest yardarm. All of his claws were dug into the wood so he didn't risk falling. Marco climbed up the rat lines and then up the mast to sit next to him. He wished they knew what he was, so he didn't keep things of him as just a creature.</p><p>"<em>Not bad person?" </em>he asked. His voice still seemed like it wasn't meant to say the words, sounding garbled, but understandable. He didn't sound human in some way. He couldn't pinpoint what made his voice inhuman. Marco reiterated that they weren't bad people. They had some annoying members, some that weren't the nicest, but none were bad.</p><p>"<em>What this ship?" </em>When Marco said it was a pirate ship, Ace asked what a pirate was. "Somebody that goes on adventures on the sea. Gets into fights and battles. We're criminals. To the government, we're bad guys. But it's worth it. We visit all sorts of places." Ace didn't show any reaction, but then asked if he would go on islands. "If you want to. But I'm sure we'd want you to stay with one of us, just to be careful."</p><p>Ace nodded, and itched his cheek with one of his claws, not breaking the skin. They acted as fingers even though they were claws, deadly sharp at the tips. "<em>Ace stay?" </em>he questioned. Marco wasn't sure if he was talking to himself of Marco.</p><p>"You're welcome if you want to stay," Marco replied. He repeated his words, but this time not as a question. Marco smiled and welcomed him. Then he said they should give the news. He asked what news was. "Tell Pops that you want to stay. News is like something you want to confirm or let somebody know about."</p><p>They climbed down, Ace able to walk down face first, not climb down. Marco didn't fly down, not wanting to explain devil fruits at the moment. He walked with Ace inside, who glared at everyone that looked at him. It would fade, like it had with Marco. He was aggressive and hostile with him not long ago, but now he was civil.</p><p>Pops was in the library when Marco gave him the news. He smiled and welcomed Ace. "<em>Ace not pet. Ace not human."</em></p><p>"What would you like to be called, then? We know you are neither. But does your kind have a name? Something we can identify you as?" the captain asked. Ace was sitting on his back legs, the middle two arms sort of curled inward while the front two were resting on the floor.</p><p>"<em>Ace faupta," </em>he replied. Marco repeated the word, and he nodded. Pops was glad they had something to call him now. He offered they go meet the commanders. He said that people would stare, but only because they'd never seen anything like a faupta. Marco was really glad they had something to call him. He felt insensitive just calling him a creature.</p><p>He wondered if all the creatures on that island had names for themselves. Could they all speak? Did they name themselves? It was interesting, and Marco dearly wished to visit again, but they wouldn't be since Ace decided to stay on the ship. It was surprising why he accepted so quickly. After one day, he stayed with them willingly.</p><p>While they went to collect the commanders, Ace following behind them, Marco asked why he decided to stay so soon. "<em>Smell like good."</em></p><p>"We smelled like good people, or our scents smell good?" Marco asked. He said the former. Marco smiled, but Ace still was wary of people, glaring at them and moving to the side opposite of where they were. He was a fast walker, so the two didn't need to slow down for him with his much shorter legs.</p><p>Once the commanders were gathered, they were told about Ace accepting his offer to stay. They each gave their names and what division they were in charge of. Ace didn't understand what that meant. When he cocked his head, his ears flopped a bit. They were very heavy and large, so they didn't flop too much, but it was still cute.</p><p>Even with his intimidating claws and his sharp teeth, he was cute. His teeth weren't like humans, but they weren't fangs. Like a child's teeth but more sharpened. Small, but they looked like they'd leave a nasty bite wound.</p><p>"A commander and a division is a leader above a group of people." "<em>Ace not human, no division." </em>Pops said they weren't planning on it. He could roam the ship and do what he liked. He was told he was under nobody, but they would appreciate if he followed their rules when they were enforced. Just to make the ship more organized and to have everyone treated fairly. Ace agreed. He would listen to rules, but he said he wouldn't want to be ordered around a lot. "As long as you follow the main rule, you won't get orders. Such as not hurting anybody or anything, and also not eating when not given permission." Ace nodded. Agreeing to not harm anything, even if he was a bit annoyed about not being allowed to eat when he wanted.</p><p>"How about once we restock, and have plenty of food, we can have a store of snacks for you to have throughout the day? But we have limited food right now, so you won't eat too much." Ace apologized for eating everything.</p><p>"<em>Ace not know not to eat. Eat good taste."</em></p><p>Thatch said he wasn't mad anymore, as long as he didn't do it again. Ace promised he wouldn't do it again. Many at the table were looking at him strangely. He really didn't look like anything they'd seen before, so it would take a bit for everybody to get used to him. "Is there anything you want us to know?" Pops asked.</p><p>"<em>Ace sleep a lot. Sun make Ace sleepy," </em>he replied, sitting propped up on his back legs without any of his arms on the table he was sitting on top of.</p><p>"Are you more awake at night? Nocturnal?" Haruta wondered. It sounded like he was, if he got tired during the day. Ace said he liked the dark more. That was confirmation enough. So, he was like a cat then? Slept during the day and then was awake at night? "Are you awake all night?"</p><p>Ace shook his head. He slept when he wanted to, but the dark was his favorite. He had no sleep schedule. He was awake when he wanted to be and asleep the rest of the time. They nodded in understanding. Marco was happy he would stay. It would be interesting. He wasn't a pet, but he wasn't a human brother. It was hard to place what he was on the crew.</p><p>They used to have a dog, the best boy Stefan, but Ace was not a simple minded animal. Not just because he could speak, but he had problem solving skills, too. And could do things a dog couldn't, like climb up things, use his hands like a human could. It was so interesting. After speaking a bit more, the meeting was adjourned.</p><p>Ace was allowed to go anywhere he wanted but the bedrooms with their doors closed. Ace asked if he could go take swims in the warm water. He was told that was fine as long as he didn't eat anymore soap. "<em>Bubble things?" </em>When that was confirmed, he said they tasted bad. Even though he'd taken bites out of multiple bars. Marco almost chuckled.</p><p>When they left the room, Ace went walked down the hall, inspecting things. Marco watched as he smelled the cracks under doors and went in all but the one that was a bedroom. He just opened the doors with a front hand and went inside. He didn't spend too much time in each one. Pops had them go and get the ship ready to leave.</p><p>They unfurled the sails, now knowing where they were going, and kept sailing to the next island. Marco wondered what normal people would think when they saw Ace. Of course nobody would put a leash on him, but they wanted him to stay close by. His claws were dangerous, and Marco had no doubt he'd defend himself, but nobody knew how he reacted to human products.</p><p>Pops sat in his throne, watching his children with a smile, sipping sake even though he'd been told countless times <em>not </em>to. After awhile, Ace came out of the ship and onto the deck. He was avoided as he went to the railing and looked over it. Marco was nervous seeing him perch on the railing.</p><p>"Don't worry. I think he has a good grip on it," the captain said, pointing out the middle arms gripping onto the railing just hard enough to not break it. The crew stayed away from Ace quite a bit, giving the faupta a large bubble of personal space. Then he saw something in the water, his tail flicking, but whatever it was lost his attention. He seemed to get bored with the scenery and walked over to them.</p><p>"<em>What dis?" </em>he asked, touching the large chair.</p><p>Marco said, "It's a very large chair. Humans sit on them for various reasons. Usually a chair would be used at a table, but we use the benches because it's easier with how many people sit at the tables," he explained in depth. He wanted Ace to know things in detail, so anything he asked, Marco would explain in detail.</p><p>"<em>Is big. Why you so big? All bigger than Ace, but you very big," </em>Ace asked, sitting at the foot of the chair. Pops invited him to sit on his lap. He was about he size of his hand, and Ace jumped up. If his claws dug into Pops' leg, his didn't show it.</p><p>His explanation was that there were all sorts of people of all sizes. "I do not know why some people are so large. Sometimes it is a bit frustrating, but not always." Ace cocked his head, asked what he didn't like. "Some things have to be sized just for me. Like this bottle of sake. It's much too big for anybody else. Some things are too small, like many books or utensils. We made do alright, and I'm glad I'm large and intimidating."</p><p>"<em>Ace not scared of you." </em>Pops laughed and said he didn't want to be. Then Ace sniffed something and it wrinkled his human like nose, perky but small. "<em>You sick?" </em>Marco stiffened. Pops gave him a smile, and then turned back to the faupta. "I am old. Some health problems come with old age." Ace asked like what. "I have heart and breathing problems. I often have oxygen when I'm sitting, but not right now. I'm drinking my sake and the nurses haven't come out to hound me."</p><p>Ace looked conflicted. "<em>You not betray Ace?"</em></p><p>"Of course not," Whitebeard said, sounding almost offended. Ace dugs his claws into Pops' thigh and all of his fur puffed up. His pupils slitted and eyes widened. Marco was about to stop him, worried, but Pops didn't make a move. He was not in shock, he could stop Ace if he sensed danger.</p><p>Ace started to glow brightly, trembling before the light went into his hands and feet, which were firmly attached to the captain's leg. People started to gather, getting worried. The light went into Whitebeard, but then nothing happened and Ace fell to the side, unconscious. Pops took him into his hand in worry.</p><p>"What just happened? Are you okay? Do you feel okay?" Marco asked in worry, not having any clue about what just happened. Pops said he wasn't sure, but wanted to get a check up just in case something negative was going to happen. He had little dots of blood on his thigh. "Why did he do that?"</p><p>The captain told Marco to not be angry, he sensed no ill intent from their newest member. He kept Ace in one hand as they walked inside and to the infirmary. Marco was looking at the creature in his father's hand, worried that he'd just caused him some damage. He might not have realized it would hurt somebody, a human. After all, he'd never been around humans before.</p><p>He didn't know what they'd do if Ace had purposely injured the man, more than just the puncture wounds from his claws. When they entered the infirmary, the nurses were surprised, as it wasn't time for a check up. And they also looked wary of Ace, though they had gotten the news about him staying now, too, like everybody else.</p><p>Pops laid him down on one of the beds, making him look so tiny on the large bed made for Jozu or Atmos. They have a plethora of different sized mattresses since the sizes of crew members varied so widely. The captain asked for a check up, but didn't give a reason why, so the nurses were a bit confused, but did the check up.</p><p>Marco watched the nurses nervously, searching for any look of alarm they might let slip. This check up was longer than most, which worried the first division commander. Pops was perfectly patient. Ace slept through the whole thing. Marco worried about the silence and mutters of the nurses.</p><p>Finally, after an annoyingly long amount of time, Whiskey asked if he'd taken anything odd. Whitebeard asked what they meant. "Well, many of your symptoms of health problems are gone. I don't know what caused this." Marco's eyes widened, and his head jerked to look at Ace, who was still sleeping deeply.</p><p>Whitebeard seemed perfectly calm, not looking overly surprised, but pleased. "I think we can thank Ace for this," Marco said. He went and sat next to the faupta. He wouldn't wake him up. "We shouldn't tell anybody about it. They might want Ace to fix any of their chronic health problems."</p><p>Whiskey asked what they were talking about, what Ace had to do with anything. "Ace repaired something yesterday that was broken, but he never said anything about fixing people. How did he know to do this? No other humans were at that island," Marco mused. Maybe it was just an instinct, he knew how to heal other creatures, so why wouldn't it work on a human? Pops stood up with a smile, and picked Ace back up, limp in his hands. He was so small to Whitebeard. Marco had watery eyes, and wiped them.</p><p>"Son, I am still old," Pops said kindly.</p><p>"I know. But some of your health problems are gone. At least for the moment, and that is so much better than nothing," Marco said with a wobbly smile. Pops smiled down at him. It seemed like he was happier about this than the one who was just healed. Maybe it was because they didn't know how long it would last. Maybe it was temporary.</p>
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<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Getting To Know Ace and Bad News</h2></a>
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  <b>SarahGri99: Ace is a cinnamon bun, like how I usually write him, only this time he's not human. I loved writing faupta Ace. </b>
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  <b>Shadow22739: We learn more about what Ace is in this chapter, but regardless he's a smart little one. </b>
</p><h4 class="heading byline">RandomReader: I personally don't like writing or reading huge chunks of one sentence dialogue. It just bothers me lol and I don't like to read it like that either in other works. But I will keep it in mind with how heavily I do so in conversations in the stories in the future. I have 9 finished stories to post, so it'll be awhile if anything changes lol. But thank you for the constructive criticism, I've honestly had very few times that somebody points out something they don't like and aren't an asshole about it.  </h4><p>
  <strong>AnimeMoon00: Thank you! I love writing different types of stories, though sometimes a subject will come in waves. I went through a dragon phase again for 3 stories to come, and my demon phase and then the faupta phase. But they're all very different imo lol. I literally have 117 pages and 55,000 words worth of ideas. Most of them haven't ever been finished. Out of maybe 230 or so stories I start, I've only finished around 90. </strong>
</p><h4 class="heading byline">Kucinggarong: So fluffy and cute &lt;3 I love his design that I HEAVILY borrowed from a creature from another manga (only I changed it up a bit) that I wrote another one with Luffy in this design, only much different and in a MHA crossover. </h4><p>
  <strong>DorothyVane: Thank you &lt;3</strong>
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  <strong>Otaku_Girl2176: Happy new year! I hope you had a wonderful christmas, too. Even on Zoom, my christmas was nice. And I'm so happy because my cousins FINALLY discovered the wonder of anime and I'm a veteran so they ask me questions. I feel so important lol.</strong>
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  <strong>We learn more about Ace in this one, and then the thing that drives much of the plot appears, as well. Enjoy~</strong>
</p><hr/><p>Pops carried Ace to the little room he'd been given, and tucked him in under the covers. They left, but agreed to not bring it up until everyone was more comfortable around Ace. They didn't want everyone to like him because he helped the captain out. They wanted people to like him for him. And it would take a bit to get used to, probably the most for Ace. Someplace completely new with nearly unfamiliar humans.</p><p>After a couple hours, Thatch walked out onto deck carrying a tray of sweets, and set them up on the roof of the cabin. Marco wondered what he was doing until Ace came out, and Thatch gestured up. Ace climbed up the wall and onto the cabin, where he started to eat the sweets, laying on his stomach with his legs gathered under him.</p><p>Pops got up to walk over with a smile. Marco followed. Some on deck were watching out of the corner of their eyes. It had looked like Ace went out of control and somehow attacked Pops, even though they had explained that nothing bad had happened, that the captain had been checked out by the nurses and everything was fine.</p><p>They were still suspicious, which Marco admitted was justifiable. Nobody knew a thing about him other than he dug his claws into the captain's leg and started glowing. It was a bit suspicious, and having him pass out looked a bit strange as well. "Hello, Ace," Pops said, standing next to the little one.</p><p>"<em>Witberd. Are you feel better?"</em></p><p>Pops smiled and said he felt much better. "How did you know to do that? Have you ever done that to humans before?" Ace said he just knew how to do it, though he'd never done it on a human, never knew how. Marco thought that was reckless, to test it out, but it hadn't been in bad nature.</p><p>"<em>You not betray Ace, so Ace repay," </em>Ace said around the chocolate in his mouth. Pops smiled and said there had been no need for him to repay for something like that. He didn't be kind because he expected something in return. "<em>Oh. Ace not know."</em></p><p>The captain said, "Either way, I'm thankful for what you did. It was very noble and kind, and I appreciate it. Is it permanent?" Ace said he didn't know, but felt it would be for a long time. Marco didn't know what a long time meant for Ace, but he didn't ask. But he did asked how old Ace was.</p><p>"<em>Ace not know how to tell time," </em>he said. So, he didn't know how old he was in human years. He still looked young. So Marco asked if he was a young one. He nodded, but said he didn't live with his parents, he lived on his own.</p><p>"Well, not anymore," Whitebeard said with a smile. Ace nodded and stuffed a lemon meringue in his mouth, letting out a little adorable hum sound. Apparently he liked that one. Marco hopped onto the roof to sit next to him. The faupta subtly pulled his tray of sweets closer, and the first mate said he wouldn't take any of his treats.</p><p>Marco asked him if he wanted to see something cool. Ace looked up curiously, and Marco took that as a yes. He changed into his phoenix form, and Ace reacted a bit negatively, his fur puffing up on his spine. "Don't worry, I'm still Marco," he said, shifting to his half form, where his arms and feet were the only changed things.</p><p>Ace relaxed a bit, and looked puzzled. "It's called a devil fruit. They're fruits that grant powers. Pops, Jozu and I have them."</p><p>"<em>Swirly pattern?" </em>Marco nodded. "<em>Ace eat one of those! Taste bad?" </em>The first mate was surprised, and asked what one he ate. "<em>Ace was baby, not remember." </em>Marco told him to wait and went to get the devil fruit encyclopedia. Maybe this would give the answer to why Ace could speak and think like he did, and why he was shunned by his own kind. When he came back out, Ace was drinking a milkshake made for him. He sure did like sweet things. Marco was sure he'd have gotten sick by then.</p><p>"Will you tell me which one it is?" Ace said he might not remember, he was so little. "Maybe we'll find one that makes sense, then," Marco said, staying positive. They looked through the book slowly. Marco wondered if there was some sort of zoan of Ace's species. He kind of doubted it, but it might be possible. Or a mythical zoan, who knew?</p><p>He was able to recall it looked like a mushroom. That was easy to find, as there was only one they found that looked like a mushroom. "The human human fruit. A zoan-type devil fruit that allows the user to transform into a human hybrid of human at will," he read. He looked to Ace, who looked unimpressed.</p><p>"<em>Ace not human. Don't want to be human. Ace is a faupta, not human."</em></p><p>Marco asked if he would want to ever be able to further the devil fruit. "<em>Ace likes himself as he is," </em>he said, chewing on a peach gummy. Marco had to admire him. He'd rather just be how he was. He didn't want to change anything about himself. So, Marco wouldn't press or try to convince him to use his power as a devil fruit user.</p><p>He assumed the healing power was something to do with his faupta side since nobody can have two devil fruits. Ace's ears twitched and he asked what a sound was. "What's it sound like?" Marco asked, since just asking what a sound was didn't really help.</p><p>"<em>Puru puru puru," </em>Ace mimicked.</p><p>"Oh, that's one of our transponder snails." He moved to drop down and go check on it before Haruta came out, carrying the one to Fishman Island. Getting a call from one of their protected islands rarely is for something good. Marco walked to the captain when he answered it, with Ace watching from behind, almost finished with his ridiculous amount of sweets and desserts.</p><p>Pops answered the call, and everyone around were alarmed to hear that the queen had been killed and that they could see Fishman Pirates were starting to be a real problem. The princess was locked in the castle due to somebody throwing weapons that could follow her wherever she went. But since this was a problem within their country and not from enemy pirates, was it their responsibility? But even if it wasn't, the Whitebeards had been protecting Fishman Island for decades. So, just out of personal worry and not duty or obligation, they were going to head to the island.</p><p>Luckily, they were in the right direction. And Fossa could coat the ship himself so they could get down. After traveling from the New World to Paradise many times, they learned how to coat and always stocked up on the necessities at Sabaody.</p><p>And since they didn't use it all the time, just once to get down to the undersea kingdom, they always had enough. Ace was listening and dropped down, his food all gone, and walked over. He was standing behind the crowd as they all listened and Pops said they'd get there as soon as possible. But they all knew that might not be in time.</p><p>"How do you know this?" Pops asked about the Fishman Pirates becoming an issue. Otohime was dead, and a human was blamed, but Fukaboshi, the first prince, was convinced it wasn't the human.</p><p>"<em>Madame Sharley and the attitudes of those in the Fishman District outside of the main kingdom are getting hostile," </em>Neptune explained. "<em>I wouldn't call you for any problems within our kingdom, but I am worried that they would out number us. Considering how many there are in the Fishman District and all."</em></p><p>Pops said they would come. They had no mission besides going from one island to the next and enjoying themselves. So heading for Fishman Island wasn't something that would screw up any plans they had. "We'll be there as soon as possible. Keep us updated, and let the rebels knew we are on our way," the captain said seriously.</p><p>Neptune thanked them, and was stopped before he apologized. "Even if the problem dissipates while we're on our way, I'm sure one of our newest members would like to see the Ryugu Kingdom."</p><p>"<em>Thank you Whitebeard-san," </em>Neptune said. Ace pulled on Marco's pant leg, but didn't rip it. He asked what was happening. Marco told him that an island they ruled over was having trouble, so they were going to help.</p><p>"<em>Oh. Bad humans?" </em>he asked.</p><p>"No, bad fishmen. They are like Namur, he's a fishman. We're going to their island to help them out," Marco explained. Ace understood, and walked back to lick the insides of the cup with the milkshake. Thatch wasn't out there at the moment, but Ace was done with everything.</p><p>After the call was over, Pops looked very concerned. Haruta said, "I can't believe Queen Otohime is dead," sadly. The others all lowered their heads. She had been a wonderful person, very unique and easy to like. She had been a good queen. "Why would they kill her? I get that they don't like humans and with good reason, but she was their queen. And now Shirahoshi can't leave her bedroom. How did it come to this?"</p><p>"Well, we'll go and help fix it up if they can't do it themselves. At least we're heading in that direction," Whitebeard said, his voice grim. Poor Neptune. The rest of the day was subdued, though Ace didn't feel anything, not knowing any of the people in trouble.</p><p>"<em>Why you protect others? What they do for you?" </em>Ace wondered, sitting on the captain's knee, bandages already on the wounds from his claws. Marco noticed he could use them as fingers and be able to not damage anything. Like how he could hold things without destroying them.</p><p>Whitebeard said they did nothing for him. He just wanted to help them, knowing the royal family for a long time. Ace asked if it wasn't their problem. Marco wasn't offended or thought Ace was heartless, and neither did Pops, explaining patiently their positive relationship with the Ryugu family. Ace didn't seem to understand really, never having to protect somebody else from anything.</p><p>Marco asked if Ace would help them if they needed it. He nodded. "What would your reasoning be?" Ace frowned, and couldn't come up with an answer. The blonde knew he was just having a hard time understanding the situation. He did admit he didn't know why he stayed.</p><p>"<em>A good feeling? And not want to go back," </em>he said.</p><p>"We have that feeling for the Ryugu kingdom as well. So we want to help them," Marco said. He was surprised with how patient he was being with Ace. He had a soft spot for him. Like his baby brother, even if he wasn't a human and didn't feel like the Whitebeards were family. He'd never had a family, so it was hard to compare his relationships with them in that way.</p><p>"<em>Oh. It long ways away from here?" </em>Pops nodded, saying it would take at least two months to get there. "<em>What if bad when we get there? Not help anymore?"</em></p><p>The captain frowned, not wanting to think that way. Marco answered for him. "Then we'd take revenge on the wrong doers." Ace asked if they would kill them. "Most likely. Depending on how bad it is. Already, it's bad, the queen was murdered. That's one of their rulers, so she was important to the kingdom. Like how Pops is our leader. But she's a leader for a kingdom, not a crew and fleet."</p><p>Marco wondered what others would think of Ace. Wondered what their allies would think of him being there. Changing the subject to something less serious and depressing, the first mate told his father and captain about the devil fruit Ace had eaten. He was surprised and distracted by this.</p><p>"A devil fruit to make him into a faupta?" he asked in interest. Marco shook his head.</p><p>"He was a faupta first. The fruit was the human human fruit. A zoan type, only with a human. He doesn't want to try and learn anything about it, because he likes the way he is now." Pops smiled, and said that it was a very good thing to love yourself. Ace shot it down, saying that his kind might have accepted him if he didn't eat the devil fruit.</p><p>Marco frowned, having that point only just click. Well there was nothing they could do about it now. He said that he was welcome no matter if he was part human at all. Ace nodded, and then laid on his side, announcing he was going to sleep. He fell asleep on Pops' knee. "He's like teaching a child how the world works," the man said, though he didn't sound irate or annoyed with that task.</p><p>"Well, he did say he was young. He doesn't know how old in human years, but he's young but didn't live with his parents, only alone," Marco explained. The two were distracted with Ace while everyone else were bummed about what was happening on Fishman Island. But they couldn't help but look forward to the trip.</p><p>Fishman Island was always a treat to visit. Colorful with good food and beautiful scenery. Marco just hoped it would still be there and salvageable when they arrived.</p><p>That night, Ace ate dinner with them. It was hard for him to reach the table while on the bench, so he was allowed to sit on the table to eat, only with others sitting a bit away so their food was unaffected by him being on the table. There was only one commander that still didn't welcome him. Everyone accepted his presence being there, even if it would take getting used to him.</p><p>Kingdew was always the pessimist, and he thought Ace was dangerous. They knew it was possible for him to be dangerous, but it was possible for Stefan to be dangerous, too. Any creature had the capacity to be dangerous. But Ace had proven that he could control himself, not attacking even when he was scared and angry. Even when he was grabbed by a stranger, he didn't scratch him.</p><p>So Kingdew's point was a bit moot and inapplicable so far. But the others trusted Pops' judgement more than their own suspicions. He wouldn't have invited Ace to stay if he felt he was a danger or threat to them. But he still got many stares, though the faupta didn't really seem bothered by it.</p><p>Thatch said he was adorable when he drank hot tea, blowing on it before drinking it and holding the mug with both front hands. Marco really did wish he knew how old he was. It was impossible to tell. Only his face looked humanoid. The rest didn't. Marco was still fascinated, though.</p><p>During the night, Ace didn't go to Pops' room. Marco got up to get some fresh air and passed Ace's little bedroom with the fluffy pillows and blankets on one of the relatively old mattresses, sensing Ace was in there, still sleeping. But when he came back inside, Ace was no longer there. He sensed him in the library, and chuckled, able to sense he was jumping up and down.</p><p>He went there and saw him on one of the spongy couches, jumping up and down. He smiled and then walked to his room to go back to bed, able to sleep just fine. In the morning, Whitebeard told them they would not be stopping at night. The ship would continue on with half of the crew being awake during the night to sail, with the other half being awake during the day.</p><p>800 people per round was completely doable. Though it made it harder for the chefs. But they'd make do, Thatch was their leader and he was smart when he wasn't being an idiot. So they sailed on, the ship adopting the new routine quickly and easily. Ace seemed a bit irritated by it, a pout on his face once he heard the news.</p><p>He wasn't able to go around the ship by himself at night, now. Well, after it was over, things would go back to normal. It should take them less time to get there now that they were doubling the speed by still sailing at night. It would be dangerous for any other crew but the Whitebeards. Big Mom had a big crew, but they were never all on one ship together.</p><p>The Whitebeards had many more, but the female yonko crew still had a lot of members. Should be easy for both of them, but Marco couldn't see a smaller crew being able to pull it off well. Not even Shanks' crew since it was much smaller. Well, who knew with him?</p><p>When Whitebeard was awake, Ace liked to stay by him. Either him or Marco. He liked Thatch mostly for the food he made specially for him. It was mostly sweets since they had to conserve food until the next island, which would take half the normal time. They'd be there within a week, Ace's first visit to an island other than his secluded home one. He looked forward to it, and even though they would only be there to stock, Marco promised to take him on it no matter how short they'd be there.</p><p>Over the next few days, Marco had Pops have a check up daily, and they always showed him being healthier than before. Ace made sure to let them know that if it faded, Pops wouldn't just get worse than he was before. Ace was sure of that, and they trusted what he was saying, how he felt about it.</p><p>Nobody knew still, they were adapting to Ace's presence. He did sleep for a lot of the day and night, taking random naps. He'd be socializing with the pirates and then just announce he was going to sleep, and would scurry off to someplace comfortable. Either his bed, Pops' bed, or the library couches. Anywhere soft and comfortable. He'd never slept on a squishy and soft surface before being on the Moby Dick.</p><p>"You know, he'd be a really exotic pet," Teach commented one day.</p><p>"Teach, he's not a pet. Don't say that again," Marco said sternly.</p><p>"Sorry, sorry," but he didn't seem sorry. Marco really didn't like his attitude. While most sort of ignored him, Teach went out of his way to look at him and not in a nice way. More of a sneer. Ace didn't have a problem with the pirates not acknowledging him in the hallways when they passed. Marco couldn't tell if he was just ignoring Teach or didn't know his attitude towards him.</p><p>Marco assumed the former.</p><p>Ace was not full human, so he had animal traits that weren't easy to be ignored. Marco sometimes forgot he was still a wild creature when he was able to speak and understand what they were saying. Whitebeard noticed that when Ace was in his room and would stare at the recliner with a stressed face on.</p><p>When Pops had asked what was wrong, Ace said he wanted to scratch the couch, that it felt like a plant on his island and he wanted to scratch it. Marco thought it was another cat-like quality. Like the napping for both the day and night, whenever he felt like it.</p><p>"Would you like a scratching post of some sort?" Pops asked. Ace had nodded, and the next day a block of wood with thick and tough fabric over it was constructed, Ace's personal scratching post. Marco thought he didn't need to use it since his claws were less like normal claws and more like black stones, seemingly impossible to chip or break. So it must have just felt good.</p><p>He was a distraction with the stress of the double sailing as well as the worry about the island they were going to as fast as they could. They were updated daily. The situation was slowing, but was still building. So they were wanting to be there before the tense situation snapped. Apparently the enemies were very largely staffed. Thousands of them, and more every day. Disillusioned fishmen were upset with the kingdom's policies.</p><p>Maybe it wasn't a good idea for the kingdom to call on humans when the fishmen pirates were only acting this way because they hated humans. But there was nobody else to call. Jinbei was not enough. He was one man, powerful or not, and could not face those numbers alone. So they were going. And they'd support them.</p><p>When the crew first took the fishman island under their protection, the crew had been smaller, and the enemies had been human pirates. Not other fishmen. The situation was fragile and sensitive. Marco didn't know how it would play out, but he only hoped for the best.</p><p>He was reading in the library when Ace came in, seemingly storming into the room, footsteps heavy and face set in anger. He looked incredibly cranky, and he jumped onto the couch and laid next to Marco. He put his book down and asked if he was okay.</p><p>"<em>Man disrespecting Ace. Not like him," </em>Ace said simply. Marco frowned and asked for details. "<em>Act like Ace animal. Am not, am faupta," </em>he grumbled. The phoenix asked who was angering him, and asked for clarification. "<em>Tease Ace with string. Act like Ace play with string, and make noises. Annoying noises. Not like him."</em></p><p>Marco had a feeling he knew who it was. "Is he large and hairy, with broken teeth?" he asked with a sigh. Ace nodded, grumbling and letting out little growls in irritation. Marco sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'll talk to him. I <em>have </em>talked to him, though. I'll involve Pops. You're not a pet or animal. It's justified to make you upset."</p><p>"<em>Act like wants Ace to fight. Not fight, just angry. Mock Ace, but Ace not attack. Even if not like him and want him go away." </em>Marco ruffled his hair. He said his patience was inspiring. And the first mate thanked his self control. But behind his smile was a deep and angry frown. What was Teach <em>doing? </em>This didn't seem in character.</p><p>He always had a vulgar sense of humor, and did jokingly mock his brothers, but he didn't antagonize them or provoke them like Ace was making it seem. And Ace didn't lie. At least, not so far. He was blunt and honest when asked questions. Like if the food was good, he'd reply honestly. Whether he liked or disliked it.</p><p>So Marco couldn't really see him lying about this. Marco said he'd go address the problem now. Ace nodded and thanked him, his voice still clipped and irritated. He laid his head down and tried to nap. The first mate was really irritated, not understanding why Teach was acting like this. Ace wasn't human, but he was still part of the crew.</p><p>Was it that had for him to understand? Ace wasn't human, but he deserved the respect of one as he was intelligent enough to need and deserve the respect you give a human. The rest of the crew understood this only after four days. Four days, and nobody antagonized him but Teach. He went to find Pops. Should end it at once instead of just Marco scolding him and then threatening to tell the captain.</p><p>Marco wasn't going to do anything roundabout. He found Pops in the galley, drinking a mug of tea that Thatch made from scratch. Over many instances, he'd been able to concoct Whitebeard's perfect tea, which he was very proud of. He looked up and saw Marco's irritated expression, and asked what was wrong.</p><p>"I'd like for you to talk to Teach. He's been purposely antagonizing Ace, and he's upset and angry about it. Apparently Teach is treating him like a cat. Danging string in front of his face and making weird noises.</p><p>"Ace feels he's being provoked, but isn't taking the bait. I've told Teach already to not make fun of Ace, but apparently my order isn't enough," Marco said. Pops frowned deeply, eyebrows drawn together. He left the empty mug at the table and got up to go and confront Teach. Ace passed by them, clearly unable to sleep or changing his mind.</p><p>Marco told him they were going to talk to Teach now. When Marco said his name, the faupta's tail flicked. He nodded, and then walked to Thatch to request some juice. When the two found Teach, he was on deck, drinking. Marco saw the string toy sticking out of his waistband.</p><p>"Teach. We've heard about the way you've been treating Ace. I'm telling you now to stop antagonizing him," Whitebeard said firmly.</p><p>"I'm just trying to be friends."</p><p>Marco immediately shot that down. He knew Teach wasn't trying to be his friend. He was trying to piss him off. He didn't understand why he'd want to risk those claws being used against him. Teach knew what claws felt like, from his old weapon, and Ace's were sharper and thicker. It didn't make sense, Marco had no idea what Teach was thinking by acting like this.</p><p>"Commander, I'm not trying to piss him off," Teach insisted.</p><p>Whitebeard stepped in. "You will not interact with him anymore. You've showed that you don't respect him as a person." Teach frowned and said he didn't understand all the fuss. He was a wild animal. "Ace is not an animal, he has the mind capabilities of a human. If I hear of you interacting with him again, you will have no access to alcohol. You will be sober for two weeks."</p><p>Teach looked shocked at this, his jaw dropped. "Usually, if you disrespect one of your brothers, they punch you or you get in an argument. If you provoke Ace and he <em>does </em>retaliate, those claws will do much more damage than knock a tooth out. I do not think he will attack. But if he does, we will know who started it.</p><p>"You will leave him alone. Do you understand me? And I will have him tell me if anything else happens again." Teach said he understood, and apologized. Pops told him to not apologize to Ace, just to leave him alone.</p><p>"Aye, captain," Teach conceded, looking irritated. He walked to the railing and tossed the string toy he'd made overboard and into the sea. Marco went back inside while Pops went to his throne, looking a bit annoyed still, but not angry. Haruta walked over when Marco went inside. He headed to the galley, where he found Ace drinking a smoothie and not juice.</p><p>Marco told him what had happened. "Pops wants you to tell him if anything else happens with Teach." Ace nodded. After he finished the smoothie, he said he was going to take a nap, and headed to Pops' room, where he was allowed to be. The captain already had a real soft spot for Ace, and not just because his health was improved by the faupta.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Before anyone asks, Chopper doesn't exist in this world and if he did, he would just be a normal reindeer as Ace ate the human devil fruit, not him.</strong>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. New Adventures, And a Few Set Backs</h2></a>
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  <b>Anime_Moon00: More Teach in this chapter. Ick. And Ace is an innocent little angel and deserves respect and love from everybody. </b>
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  <b>SaraGri99: Thank you! This chapter is a long one with lots of fluff and drama.</b>
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  <b>DorothyVane: I love writing cute characters. A little more than I like angst and dragon stories lol. Usually the cute is baby Luffy, but this one is def different.</b>
</p><h4 class="heading byline">Kucinggarong: Hehe, Teach has only just showed himself.</h4><h4 class="heading byline">Guest 3: Stefan isn't in this one. But it would have been cute for him to either make Ace very uncomfortable and hiss, or they'd be great friends lol</h4><h4 class="heading byline">Niss.Arsil: Ace is indeed adorable. And I think there's not a person alive who likes Teach. Maybe think he's a good villain, but nobody will like them. </h4><hr/><p>
  <b>Longer chapter this time! And I finally made it to 80 stories by posting a gruesome one shot last night- well, technically this morning. Check it out if sort of body horror doesn't bother you. So I killed an animal in one of my in-progress stories and I was so ridiculous. I was totally crying my eyes out lol. Like my face was red and splotchy. So ridiculous.  Anyways, enjoy~</b>
</p><hr/><p>After Ace was gone, Thatch asked what had happened, and Marco told him what Ace had. Thatch scowled, but was also perplexed by the behavior. "Teach doesn't really seem like one to act like that. I wonder why? I mean, I get why there are some who still have reservations, but not to purposely piss him off. It's strange." Marco agreed. He was confused from it, too.</p><p>"And Teach didn't deny it, so Ace wasn't lying in any way. I hope everything is fine. So, how you holding up? About going to Fishman Island?" Marco asked, sitting at the bar counter while Thatch worked on the last batch of pumpkin pie ingredients they had until they reached the island tomorrow night.</p><p>Thatch frowned, looking at the floor in sadness. "I just hope everything is okay by the time we get there," he said softly. "I don't want to find everything in chaos, with more people dead." Marco sighed and agreed. "How do you think Princess Shirahoshi is doing?"</p><p>Marco rested his chin on his hand, and said, "Probably not well. She had to miss her own mother's funeral out of safety precaution. This Hody and Vander Decken are assholes. I'm surprised they haven't stopped their actions after hearing <em>we </em>were coming to help. Since they're so persistent, I won't be surprised if we have to kill them all.</p><p>"But given just how many there seems to be, it would be akin to a genocide. And I doubt any prison could hold all of them. At least, any prison besides Impel Down, that is," Thatch said. He went back to baking the pie they both knew was for Ace mostly. The man couldn't stop giving him sweets.</p><p>He sighed and Thatch said he couldn't wait to be back on land, even if it had only been a handful of days since they were last on land. "Marco, has there ever been this kind of thing? Where we have to help an island ward off people on that island?" Thatch questioned, putting the pie in the oven.</p><p>"Yeah. A long time ago. I think you weren't there that time. It was really messy. The people who were there for that are more nervous. By the time we got there, pretty much everybody was dead. That's the terrible thing about how long it takes to travel. The world isn't just gonna wait for you to get there," Marco said softly.</p><p>Thatch sighed and rubbed his hands down his face. Both he and Marco were in bad moods. Marco said he was going back to finish his book, having left off when Ace told him about Teach's disrespectful behavior. He passed the man in the hall, who didn't make eye contact. He was clearly angry at himself or them. Well, Marco knew Teach could be an idiot but he wasn't stupid. He wasn't going to risk getting trouble again. Probably mostly because he couldn't imagine being sober for so long.</p><p>When he got back to the library, he continued to read his book.</p><p>-x-</p><p>Ace was pacing on the railing when the island came into sight. Marco assumed he was nervous. He'd never been at a human place. Besides the ship, where the people were open minded enough to accept him and knew where he came from and what he was. Marco was worried about his pacing, not wanting him to fall overboard.</p><p>But then he did. "Ace!" Marco shouted, and Ace managed to claw himself up the side of the ship. Marco flew down and grabbed him, carrying him back onto deck. He was wet, all of his fur matted down. He looked a lot smaller when he wasn't fluffy. "Are you okay?" Ace was shaking, but nodded.</p><p>"<em>Was scary. Say Ace can't swim, but can swim. Thought would drown," </em>Ace said. Marco picked him up to take him inside and get dry. Ace was holding onto him, limbs wrapped around him, the claws digging in but not painful.</p><p>Marco took him to the nearest bathroom and got a towel for him. He took the towel and dried himself off. "You okay?" Marco asked the faupta softly. He looked so small and meek, holding his ears down flatter. His second arms were wrapped around himself. He nodded, though he clearly wasn't okay. Marco hugged him. "You're okay. Maybe no more pacing on the railing?" he said, trying to lighten to mood.</p><p>"<em>Won't pace anymore," </em>Ace agreed. He shivered a bit, still wet, and Marco walked with him, cozied up in a blanket. They were reaching the island, but Ace could have something warm first. He set Ace down on the table, the small faupta still bundled up in the towel like a blanket. It was big enough to be a blanket, though.</p><p>Marco took the kettle and made him some hot chocolate quickly. He sat at the table while Ace drank the hot chocolate. The blonde wanted to change the subject, so he asked Ace if he could do math. "<em>Math?"</em></p><p>"Yeah," Marco said. "Like one plus one equals two. Or two times two equals four." Ace cocked his head, saying he didn't know that stuff. "It works with numbers."</p><p>"<em>Numbers? Ace not know what that is." </em>It wasn't surprising, but he did wonder if Ace skipped over hearing numbers before. Like the numbered divisions. But he knew the commanders' names. He didn't use their ranking, but the leaders' names. "Maybe I can teach you sometime." Ace nodded, and finished his hot chocolate fairly quickly.</p><p>He made Marco chuckled when he said he liked the "sweeter" hot chocolate more. All of the extra touches Thatch put in. The marshmallows, whip cream, chocolate sprinkles. He went overboard. He pampered Ace completely. It was kind of funny.</p><p>Once the ship came to port, Ace was nervous to go on land, but also excited. It would be a short visit. The wagon was already out, ready to get supplies. Marco and Thatch would be taking one wagon while the other two would be taken by other commanders. Everyone had their own duty, all mostly to restock and supply their ship. Running low on food quicker, probably, due to the split meals between the night shift workers and the day time ones. Plus Ace ate a lot, and had already completely ransacked one storage room on his first expedition onto the Moby Dick.</p><p>He had rarely turned invisible once he got comfortable there. Marco sort of forgot about it. Even though it had been a little over a week, it felt like Ace had been there longer. So, he was going to be in the wagon under a blanket, peeking over the side to look around. Pops decided this way was better. He got to see the human world, but wouldn't be seen and freaked out about.</p><p>He was pacing back and forth in the wagon, peeking his head over the sides. "Gotta stay in one spot, okay?" Thatch said patiently.</p><p>"<em>Okay," </em>Ace replied. They could see his tail moving around a lot under the blanket, but he'd chosen he right corner. His eyes were barely above the wall of the wagon. He looked so small there. The wagons were huge since they had to carry a lot, and making so many trips would be annoying. So the strongest of the crew pushed the wagons. When they finally were docked, Marco and Thatch's wagon went first. They weren't the only ones working on it. They would move the wagon while others bought the supplies needed. Thatch and Marco would just pick it all up, making the process smooth and quick.</p><p>Ace looked at everything with wide eyes. He darted to the other side of the wagon to look over that side, and since it was empty, neither commander told him to sit still. It was windy, but the tarp stayed over Ace just fine. He didn't say anything as they made their rounds through the town.</p><p>Marco heard him sniffing, probably smelling new scents. Nobody saw him, so he was able to observe peacefully. He behaved perfectly, staying on one spot once humans started to be around. He just looked like a sack in the corner of the wagon. Thatch had a check list while Marco did the pushing.</p><p>He was strong, so it wasn't tiring. It was easy. They finally got to the first shop, where Teach and Erza were waiting, Erza one of Teach's friends in the second division. They had the crates full of apples, which lasted a long time. The four lifted the crates inside. One of them accidentally landed on Ace's tail, who started to screech about it in pain.</p><p>The nosies caught attention of those around as Thatch hurried to lift it up. Marco lifted the blanket up to see if Ace was okay, and he had big fat tears coming from his eyes. He pulled the tarp off more and saw Ace's tail was clearly broken. "Ace! Oh, I'll take you back to the ship," Marco said.</p><p>Thatch said they'd take care of the rest. Marco picked Ace up, wrapped in the tarp. He was crying the saddest little cries that didn't sound human at all. "You'll be okay."</p><p>"<em>Hurts!" </em>he cried. Marco hurried him inside once they got on the ship. Nobody was on deck, everybody out to restock as quickly as possible. He hurried into the infirmary, and shouted for any of the nurses. He set Ace on the bed, and Whiskey hurried in. She saw the crying Ace, and asked what was wrong.</p><p>"A heavy crate was set on his tail. I think it's broken," Marco said. Ace was still crying. The head nurse frowned sympathetically and said they would get an x-ray of it. Marco stayed, waiting for the x-ray and still hearing the cries. Poor Ace. He must be in a lot of pain. The wails were heartbreaking.</p><p>Marco hadn't suffered a broken bone in decades, so he didn't know the pain he was in. The x-ray didn't take too long, and the bed was wheeled back out of one of the adjacent rooms. "His tail is fractured, but it's not a bad break," the woman said. She had a list of books and supplies to get. Apparently she wanted this but was going to have the stocking done first. "Please go get these items. I'll take care of Ace."</p><p>Marco didn't want to leave, but he trusted Whiskey to help Ace. Marco nodded and left in a hurry, wanting to get back. He ran out on deck, and Pops asked what was wrong, seeing the frantic look on his son's face. "Ace broke his tail. I have to go into town for stuff, I'll be back soon," he said and ran off of the ship and to the store.</p><p>A veterinary clinic. He found one, and bought multiple books, for dogs and cats, and then various medications and creams. When he was told he needed authorization to get such things, he pulled the pirate-card, and said he <em>was </em>getting these things. She saw his chest and screamed, running back inside.</p><p>He swiped things off the shelves and took a bunch of the books on display. He tossed the sack of money on the desk and ran. Looking at the supplies, he'd gotten quite a lot. Ace wasn't human. His body wasn't human, he wouldn't have human remedies for everything. His mind was more human, but he had six limbs, huge ears and a tail. He wasn't anywhere close to a human body.</p><p>When he got back, Ace was still hiccupping while his tail was wrapped up. He dumped the things on another bed, and asked how the faupta was. "<em>Hurts," </em>Ace replied. There were still tears in his voice, but he wasn't sobbing anymore.</p><p>"You have to be careful when moving it, okay? It'll heal fine on its own, but we'll give you some pain medicine, okay?" Ace nodded, still hiding his face in the sheets. Marco asked why he couldn't heal himself. "<em>Ace can't," </em>he said simply. Marco rubbed his scalp soothingly. So much smaller than anyone else on the crew. "<em>Did it on purpose!" </em>Marco asked what he meant. "<em>Mean human put box on tail on purpose!" </em>The phoenix had not seen Teach put the crate down on purpose, but he could see why Ace was upset. He didn't doubt him, not now. And if anyone was to blame, Ace would choose Teach.</p><p>He didn't know Erza and knew Thatch wouldn't hurt him. Teach had already been disrespectful to him. "We'll figure it out later. For now, just take it easy. Don't move your tail too much."</p><p>"<em>First time on island and is ruined," </em>Ace bemoaned. Marco said this shouldn't count. They were only stocking up, not doing anything interesting or fun. He said that they would explore on every island after they resolve the issue on Fishman Island. Ace sniffled, still hiding his face in the sheets.</p><p>After a bit, Thatch came running in, asked if Ace was alright. "His tail is fractured. Do you know who put the crate down? Ace says it was Teach." Thatch confirmed this, but that it really looked like it had been an accident. Marco glanced at Ace, wondering why he was silent, but saw he'd fallen asleep on his stomach.</p><p>"He was crying. It was so heartbreaking," Marco said. Thatch sat down on the nearest bed with all of the hastily grabbed animal objects and books, and said that it was hard to remember that he was so young sometimes. "Yeah, it is. It's stupid. He's so small and child like, why would we forget that?"</p><p>Thatch replied, "Maybe because he's so resilient. Doesn't really act like a child." They were speaking quieter now. Marco said he should go help with the stocking, and asked Thatch to stay with him for now. The chef agreed. On his way out, he passed Pops, who didn't ask anything and just headed inside.</p><p>Marco went to the storage room with the foods Thatch's group had collected in that wagon. Marco listened to the conversation between Teach and Erza, desperately not wanting to hear Teach had done it on purpose. "I really didn't mean to do it. I dislike him, but I didn't mean to hurt his tail," Teach said. He sounded pretty sincere. Marco let out a relieved sigh.</p><p>He walked in to help out with storing things in the right place. Teach asked how Ace was. "His tail was fractured. What was in the crate that was set on top of it?" Marco asked. Teach pointed to the crate that had at least ten watermelons in it. No wonder it broke, the thing was very heavy.</p><p>Marco hoped the tail would heal quickly. But was scary to think their Ace was just as weak as a normal animal. To have his tail broken from something heavy being on it. And it sucked he couldn't heal himself. That didn't seem fair at all. So, his tail would have to heal on its own. Hopefully it wouldn't be too hard, but none of them had any idea. After all, not a single one of them had a tail.</p><p>After everything was stocked, the other groups as well, the ship sailed off. After while, Ace came out of the infirmary, but was walking funny. Thatch was there to keep him from falling over. "What's wrong with him?"</p><p>"He's high off of the pain medicine. I'm going to just take him to sleep," Thatch said, not an ounce of humor in his voice despite Ace's huge pupils and wandering around aimlessly until he picked up the little faupta and brought him to his room. Pirates looked confused or concerned when he was brought past them, limp in Thatch's arms.</p><p>When they got to the bedroom, Thatch set Ace down on his side, very careful with his tail. Marco tucked him in and they left the room, Ace asleep already. Both men sighed, upset that Ace's first outing had him injured. A broken bone sucked. But at least he could still walk. He just needed to be very careful with it.</p><p>Whiskey said it should heal quickly based on other animals and their situations with broken tails. Marco was glad they were taking his health seriously by requesting all sorts of books. He had gotten as many as he could, being in a hurry so he didn't read the titles. When they went to the galley, Teach was in there, eating a cherry pie.</p><p>Ace didn't like the cherry pies, so he didn't eat those. Just the rest of the sweets Thatch made. Thatch frowned, but hid the expression. Marco knew both of them were irritated with Teach, even though they both thought it had been a genuine accident. The fat man looked up and asked if he was feeling any better.</p><p>"He's asleep. Got high off of the pain medicine. The tail should heal quickly if he's gentle with it," Marco said. "He thinks you did it on purpose." Marco wasn't going to lie. Teach sighed and said he hadn't meant to. He had been annoying before, but had genuinely not meant to crush his tail.</p><p>He pointed out that he was under the tarp. So he didn't see his tail under it. And that was correct, he had been hidden. So, this time, Marco took Teach's side, not that he'd shoot down Ace's suspicion. He'd speak to him about it once he was feeling better. Marco left the galley to go check on the other storage rooms, see if they'd been restocked properly.</p><p>When he was going to the one that had repairs for the ship, he saw Ace standing in the hallway looking at the ceiling. He was swaying a bit. Marco looked up and saw there was nothing on the ceiling. Not even a lamp he might be looking at. "Ace?"</p><p>Ace turned around, looking sleepy. His pupils were huge. "Ace, why don't you go back to sleep?" he offered in a soft voice, walking closer. He said in a misty voice that there was a bug he had to kill. "Why?"</p><p>"<em>It tell Ace is Ace," </em>Ace said. He was completely out of it. And he looked tired. It would be best for him to sleep. But he didn't want to sleep, and said the bugs were in his bed. Since things were more calmed down, the ship already left the port to the next island, he could tell Pops was back in his throne. Maybe the faupta would sleep with him.</p><p>"Why don't you go stay with Pops?" Marco suggested. Ace looked up and around. Apparently the offensive bug had gone away. He agreed to see Pops. He didn't call the man "Pops", but "Pop". Nobody thought anything was wrong with that. Marco picked him up when he swayed a bit.</p><p>He made sure to not touch the tail. It had broken in the middle, not the base so there was no nerve damage, thank god. When they got outside, Marco walked Ace to the throne. He was very light. Weighed less than Stefan had. Whitebeard frowned when he saw Ace not asleep. Marco set him down on the man's thigh.</p><p>"He's having trouble sleeping on his own. So maybe he'd sleep okay here," Marco explained simply. He thought it was funny that Ace imagined that a bug had offended him. Pops agreed, and let Ace rest on his lap. He looked dazed for a bit before the little creature closed his big eyes and drifted to sleep.</p><p>The captain frowned at his injured kid. He saw Ace as a child, just a very different one. Ace stayed asleep for many hours, even during a call with Neptune, an update. Things were still escalating, but had slowed. Everyone was on their toes, though. Frightened about what might happen to the country if things got any worse.</p><p>Vander Decken was still attacking the princess. They were taking too long. Marco sighed once the call was over. "We can only go as fast as the wind takes us, son," Pops said. Everyone out on deck was put in a bad mood from the call. It felt bad to not be there when they needed them. Pops was very stoic about it, not wanting to upset everyone more by showing his own worry and discomfort.</p><p>Marco could see it easily, though.</p><p>-x-</p><p>Another week later, and Ace's tail was healed. He still blamed Teach for it, but the two did their best to avoid one another. The wrappings were taken off of his puffy tail, and he cautiously moved it around, feeling it was all better. He smiled and jumped up twice in happiness before jumping off of the bed in the infirmary and zooming out of the room.</p><p>Whiskey took the wrappings and disposed of them. Marco smiled and thanked her for taking care of him. "Of course. It's our job to take care of everybody. And he helped Pops. We can never neglect him for that reason alone." Marco nodded and left. But Ace was running back in his direction and stopped in front of him.</p><p>"<em>Bath? Want to take bath," </em>Ace said. Marco nodded, asking which one he wanted to take in. He wanted the biggest bath tub. But he also wanted a private area. He wanted to relax. So, he would use the captain's bathtub. Pops was fine with the smallest using it. So he walked with Ace to the captain's quarters and got the big bath going. The water would only be filled halfway because Ace was so small in it, so it didn't need to be filled all the way. He made the water nice and hot, and then laid out a normal sized towel in front of the tub. Ace climbed in and melted in the water. He turned on his back and floated on the surface, his arms curled in. He closed his eyes.</p><p>Ace seemed to be able to swim, which was odd for a devil fruit user, of course, but they really knew little about his species as a whole. So maybe that was what made him different. Marco left the door open, and wished Ace have a nice bath. What he got back with a little hum while the faupta floated in the warm water, clearly enjoying himself.</p><p>When he came out and into the galley for some milk, he was all poofed up from the bath. Haruta was there but Thatch wasn't, so he poured Ace a glass of milk that he drank easily. The youngest commander was happy that Ace was getting along with him better. When the glass was empty, it was put in the dishwasher.</p><p>Then Teach walked into the galley, and Ace glared at him before turning around and leaving out the other exit. Well, Ace would never like Teach, but as long as they avoided one another, it should be fine. Not everyone would get along. Still, the two higher ups had not told anyone about Ace's power to heal many of Pops' illnesses. It didn't feel the right time.</p><p>The next day, Marco came across a very strange sight. Ace was on Vista's shoulder, looking happy. Apparently, Vista had just gotten done <em>polishing </em>Ace's claws so they were all shiny. "<em>Ace likes the shine," </em>he said. Marco started laughing and Thatch did, too. Vista didn't look embarrassed to his credit.</p><p>"He saw me polishing my swords and got curious," Vista explained simply. Ace asked of they liked his shiny claws.</p><p>Thatch snickered and Marco said, "They're very nice looking. I'm sure they'll be really shiny out in the sunlight." Ace jumped off of Vista's shoulder at this and ran outside. Vista chuckled and stroked his mustache. He said it was like having a little kid aboard sometimes. The other two commanders nodded.</p><p>"I wonder how he'll react to the trip down to Fishman Island?" Thatch mused. "It would be dark and he'd be in a more confined feeling space." Marco didn't know how he'd react. Maybe he'd like it. He liked the dark, after all. They were going to be at another island the next day. It had been almost three weeks since Ace came and he already fit very nicely.</p><p>Marco was very glad that he wasn't treated as a pet. That had been a worry at first. That they'd offend him and he'd want to leave but had nowhere to go. They hadn't seen any reactions from other people not on the crew. At least Marco hadn't. He'd left with Ace quickly when his tail got broken in the wagon.</p><p>Luckily, he wanted to try again on another island. It was a protected one under Shanks, so there would be no ruffian pirates or anybody they could consider dangerous. The Whitebeards had a civil relationship with Shanks' crew, so they were fine with letting one another land on their islands. And the people that lived there knew not to worry about the other yonko crew.</p><p>The Whitebeards and Red Hair pirates were the only yonkos that roamed the New World. Kaido and Big Mom ruled over territories and generally stuck to those places they've claimed.</p><p>Ace was excited to try another island again, impatient about the pace the ship was going, even though sailing through the night let them get places faster. Ace didn't really have a frame of reference about them going faster than usual, though.</p><p>When Marco went outside, he found Ace showing Pops his shiny claws. The captain was laughing, but Ace clearly didn't take offense. Vista smiled about it. Ace was growing on others besides Marco, Pops and Thatch. But still, Kingdew didn't like him and Ace hated Teach. Well, you couldn't have everything.</p><p>That night, Marco being on a day shift with half of the commanders, he woke up to a scratching on his door and Ace saying his name. At first, Marco thought he was dreaming but decided he wasn't when the scratching continued. Marco got up and walked to the door, hair a mess from being sleepy.</p><p>He knew it had been Ace, but he wondered what the problem was. "What's up?" he asked when he opened the door. Ace had a blanket draped over him, and looked sad. He had a bad dream, but was tired. He didn't want to get up. "Do you want to sleep in here?" It was pretty obvious that was what he wanted, but he asked anyways. The faupta nodded, and Marco moved aside to let him in. He chose to sleep on the comfy chair in the corner. He turned on the desk lamp at the lowest mode as a nightlight.</p><p>Ace curled up under his blanket, big eyes watching Marco get back into the bed. The little one fell asleep first. When Marco woke up the next morning, Ace had left, though the blanket was still there. Marco hadn't heard the door open or close, though. And Ace wasn't in the bathroom. So he was very quiet when he left.</p><p>The sun was shining through the porthole as Marco got up and dressed in clean clothes. When he left the bedroom, Namur was heading to bed, one of those on the night shift. Marco looked forward to seeing all of his brothers again. He wasn't fond of the night and day shift schedule. He didn't get to see half of them, after all. Pops alternated, but mostly stayed up during the day.</p><p>Since he got healed from Ace, he wasn't as exhausted anymore, which was nice. He was just overall feeling much better. It seemed everybody was busy thinking about other things when Jozu was the only to notice that Whitebeard was having oxygen less. The nurses were still skittish about it and wanted him to do as he usually did <em>sometimes </em>at least. Being medical practitioners made them more wary of "magic" or whatever Ace had done.</p><p>He found Ace in the bathhouse, attempting to dump bubbles into the water he'd filled up halfway. Marco entered and showed him the best method was to our the bubble mixture in while the bath was being filled. "This way the bubbles come up bigger and faster."</p><p>Ace dumped too much in, so much that when he climbed in he could barely be seen, but he liked it and thanked Marco. And also thanked him for letting him sleep in his room. "No problem," Marco said lightly, and left Ace to his bubble bath, where he could just barely hear the water sloshing as he knew Ace was playing. He was so cute sometimes.</p><p>When Ace came into the galley during breakfast, which was some pirates' dinner, he went to the station Thatch put his food tray at. It had all his favorites, and was low to the ground so he could pick it up much easier than if he had to jump onto the counter. He picked it up and carried it on his back.</p><p>Marco took the tray for him and set it on the table that he then jumped up on to eat. "How was your bath?" Marco asked. The faupta said it was good. He only left once the bubbles ran out. Thatch smiled at it. They were in the middle of talking about the stop at the next island. They still had more than enough supplies, and were only stopping because they needed to replace the water purifier. It was broken, and they would run out of fresh water if they didn't replace it.</p><p>"I have an idea about how to bring Ace onto the island without causing any scene. We can put a blanket on him so it looks like he could be a dog or cat. <em>Not </em>that we would ever think of you in that way," Izo said quickly before Ace grew angry. "Just for convenience this time," he added.</p><p>Ace wasn't happy with the idea, but didn't protest. Just frowned while he ate. He couldn't hold forks or spoons, so he just ate with his hands and then wiped them down afterwards. He didn't seem to shed at all, so fur was never in his food from his hands.</p><p>Pops said that was a good idea. Would make things easier. They'd only be there maybe two hours at most, with nobody leaving the ship but Ace, Marco and Vista to buy the water purifier. Ace was excited, no longer grumpy. His anger had only lasted a minute or so. Throughout the day, when he was awake and not napping for hours on end, he couldn't keep still.</p><p>"<em>Ace hopes it goes gooder - better - than last time," </em>he said when sitting on Pops' knee. The captain agreed, saying he wanted Ace to be safe and healthy on his trip to the island. It would be short, but breaking his tail had taken just a second. A couple hours could do something bad as well. Marco asked Ace if he was afraid. "<em>No. Not afraid, worried it will be ruined, though."</em></p><p>When Teach walked out with a cherry pie in his hand, Ace's dark eyes narrowed at the man. Whitebeard asked if anything more had happened with Teach. If he did anything to Ace lately. "<em>He not like Ace and Ace not like him. Glare at each other," </em>he said. So nothing bad had come from it. And Ace recognized he glared, too. It wasn't just Teach giving him nasty looks.</p><p>Nobody tried to convince him to like the man. It he did some day, that was fine. But his opinion was his opinion and nobody was going to try and force him to be friends with somebody who doesn't like him either. Ace took Marco's attention back to the present and asked Pops what the blanket would look like.</p><p>"Does it matter?"</p><p>"<em>Ace doesn't want to look stupid." </em>Whitebeard laughed and promised they'd use a nice looking blanket. The faupta approved and laid down to nap in the sunniest spot on Pops' leg.</p><p>The day they were landing for probably the shortest amount of time they'd ever done before, Ace had a shiny black "poncho" on. It was made to fit him. Had a hood and made it hard to see he had six legs and not four. He was excited, even if he didn't like the poncho. Marco and Vista had the money to buy the industrial sized water purifiers.</p><p>He ran down the ramp and stood at the base waiting for his two guides. Ace walked between both of them, the two making sure to keep him safe. Nobody wanted another accident. They walked into town, slowly so Ace could smell everything, look into the widows of shops, the hood over enough to block his face in shadow.</p><p>He stayed away from other people, but when he came into contact with another dog, on its leash, he froze. After all, he'd never seen an animal like a dog. Not in person. Marco and Vista stopped to let him investigate. The dog was interested, too, but then they went their separate ways. Marco was walking on pins and needles about nobody saying they should have Ace on a leash.</p><p>While the faupta would understand in the long run, he would no doubt be offended in the short term. But their trip to the store they got directions to went smoothly, if not slowly. Though both commanders were patient people. And when they did get to the store, Vista stayed with Ace outside. He had the little creature in his arms and looking through the shop's window.</p><p>Marco was in the middle of paying when a child and his parent walked in. The kid asked, "What is that? A weird dog!" He was young, and pointing out the window at Ace. Vista adjusted the poncho so it hid all of Ace but the tail.</p><p>"He's a mix," Marco said simply. "You won't find another dog like him." He brought out the two very large filters. Vista put Ace down and the two of them carried the things. Maybe it would have been smart to bring a wagon. "Stay near, okay, Ace?"</p><p>"<em>Yes," </em>he said.</p><p>"The dog talked!" a girl screeched. She was maybe six and went running at Ace, who hissed at her menacingly. Her dad grew angry, and the pirates couldn't be threatening to them as Whitebeards. Being negative towards Shanks' protected citizens would not be a good look.</p><p>"Are you gonna let it disrespect my daughter?" he demanded. Vista pointed out that Ace was uncomfortable with her rushing at him. "You're not gonna apologize for its behavior?"</p><p>Marco was about to tell him there was no point to apologize, as neither had done anything wrong and they should just move on when Ace told the guy to shut up. Then he trotted back to Vista. The man was in shock, didn't move but had wide eyes as the two pirates and Ace walked back to the ship.</p><p>The two commanders let out relieved sighs when Ace was back on the Moby Dick. "Well, that went well," Vista said, and Marco chuckled. The moment they were back on the ship, Ace pulled off the poncho and ran to Pops to tell him about the outing and the mean man. When he said he'd just told him to shut up, the captain laughed. Neither pirate had expected him to attack anybody, but being disrespected with a human-like mind would cause anybody to retaliate. Ace just didn't do it physically, luckily.</p><p>They got the new equipment set up and the shipwrights inspected the old ones to see if anything was salvageable before dumping them. Marco went back outside and saw some people at the dock with hunting rifles. It was weird to threaten the Whitebeards, but they never pointed their guns at them. Maybe they thought that they could walk all over them. Well, if they attacked, they would defend themselves and would not be the ones in the wrong.</p><p>But then it clicked. They probably were after Ace, who was napping. Pops looked worried, too. Marco wondered if it would be better to just have Ace be himself and perch on somebodies shoulder. One of the well known ones. It was scary since Ace wasn't overly tough and couldn't heal himself. So he was vulnerable.</p><p>Probably the weakest of them. Well, he was like the baby on the ship. Nobody would let him get hurt. He was in a great mood after he woke up, telling the others about his time on the human island. Of course nobody really thought it was a fun time, but at least he enjoyed it while he could. Only about an hour of it.</p><p>But Thatch made a special cake for him regardless, celebrating his day out. It was rare to see Ace so happy that he was smiling widely. He didn't usually smile even when he was happy. Not because he wasn't happy, he just didn't smile. But it was nice while he did. His teeth didn't make it creepy or unsettling to them. So nobody had a problem with it.</p><p>-x-</p><p>The Whitebeards skipped the next island. They didn't land on it. Ace watched it pass them by sadly. Everyone wanted the journey to be over so they could get back to normal. Tired of the split ship. They were also worried about their protected island. Fights had finally broken out when one of the Fishman Pirates had shot a guard.</p><p>They still had at least three days to make it there after skipping one island, sailing nonstop and stopping for nothing. Ace was the only one seeming unconcerned, though he didn't seem to like the tense atmosphere. Even though he'd just gotten there, he could tell things were tense. And there wasn't much he could do about it. The clock was ticking faster and faster.</p><p>Marco was just glad it was tense, but nobody was taking it out on one another. They were all tense for the same reason, they understood one another's reason for being cold and hard and snarky. Ace didn't like it, but took the hint from everybody and didn't get snappy. He did growl at Teach when he got in his wide personal bubble, and Teach sneered back. They had a silent standoff and Thatch came up and distracted Ace by giving him an ice cream cone.</p><p>Thatch had figured out a way to successfully distract Ace from things, and that was with food. If somebody was just trying to get him to move on from something, it was difficult depending on what it was. But food overcame all.</p><p>Marco was watching Thatch teach Ace how to fish, who did terribly. He was able to use his claws like fingers, but they weren't good for handling delicate objects. Like utensils. He could use them in other ways, but not things like that. So he was getting very frustrated. Finally Thatch just had him prop the fishing pole against the railing and throw the bait into the water instead of casting it. He dropped back down and held the pole down with his back legs while looking over the side.</p><p>"<em>How Ace know when pull back?"</em></p><p>Thatch patiently said to pull when the line gets tugged. "If the pole moves suddenly, even a little, it means you probably have a bite! Then you pull it back and catch the fish," he explained patiently. Ace nodded and continued to look over the side. Thatch was fishing, too, looking content. But Ace was impatient.</p><p>Marco chuckled under his breath as Ace continued to show signs of impatience and irritation. "<em>Ace bored. When will fish bite?" </em>Thatch laughed and said he had to be patient. "<em>Ace not good at that. Not at all." </em>Marco snorted from afar, and Ace turned around. At the sound. The first mate walked over and said patience was for people who worked on it.</p><p>He was told that Ace didn't want to work on it because it sounded boring. Then he gave up on fishing and went to Pops to take a nap. Marco and Thatch laughed while Marco took up Ace's pole in case he decided to come back and work on it again. "You gotta admire his honesty," Thatch mused. "I look forward to the time after Fishman Island. After we help them out. Then we can see all of our brothers and not sail during the night. And the stress will be gone by then, too, hopefully."</p><p>Marco nodded, leaning his forearms against the railing. "Then Ace can run around and jump on couches at night again." Thatch looked confused. "When he first got here, the first or second night, I found him jumping on the couches in the library at 3:00 in the morning." Thatch snorted and shook his head.</p><p>His pole tugged and he was bummed about how light it was. He wanted to catch a shark, apparently. The chef made one flip of the wrist and easily pulled his catch out. "Well, this definitely isn't a fish," he said, holding a dark blue devil fruit. Marco's eyebrows raised in surprise.</p><p>"Haven't fished one of these out in two decades. That one we sold because it was so stupid. The munch munch one," Marco said. He asked for the fruit, and was handed it. It seemed Ace had either not been sleeping or woke up when he ran over, asking what it was. What kind of fruit.</p><p>"<em>Doesn't look like any fruit Ace seen before," </em>he said, inspecting the devil fruit in his hands. He wasn't stupid and didn't try to eat it. Thatch said they did indeed not look like normal fruits. Ace stood on his back legs to hand the fruit back to the owner. "<em>Are you eat it?" </em>He could speak and understand human language pretty well, but still made mistakes every now and again. Nobody unnecessarily corrected him.</p><p>The three walked inside to go to the devil fruit encyclopedia. Ace trotted in between them, looking up at them while they talked. "Depending on what it is. I would eat it <em>after</em> the Fishman Island visit. I don't want some fruit to debilitate me where I'm completely useless," Thatch explained.</p><p>"<em>Is there a fight?"</em></p><p>"It's a high chance that there will be a fight of some magnitude. How else would we get it through the enemy's head that they won't cause trouble or they'd get the wrath of the Whitebeards?" Marco wondered. He looked at Ace and asked him what it was like when he ate his devil fruit.</p><p>The faupta looked to be thinking hard about it. "<em>Was with mama and ate it and then was all alone." </em>The two pirates had their faces fall. Marco apologized for him. Ace said there was no point in being upset over it now. It was sad. Just accidentally eating a devil fruit made his family abandon him.</p><p>He knew he might be being insensitive about it, and asked if he missed his mama. Ace nodded. "<em>Not like be alone. Make Ace sad. Mama was nice and then was gone. Not see her again."</em></p><p>Thatch stopped walking and crouched in front of the faupta and said, "Well, you won't be alone with us<em>. </em>You don't gotta worry about us leaving you alone." He hugged Ace, who was hiccuping. They made him cry. Thatch picked him up and said, "Why don't we find out what this fruit is? Hope its not something stupid." Ace didn't reply but buried his face into Thatch's chest while they headed to the library.</p><p>When they got there, Marco fetched the book while Thatch and Ace sat on one of the couches. Ace seemed to have composed himself was just now interested in the devil fruit. Marco sat down on the other side of him so he was between the two commanders. He opened the book and flipped through, finding the logia section. "'The dark dark fruit. It allows the user to create and control darkness at will, making the user a darkness human'."</p><p>Thatch said, "Sounds spooky." He didn't seem afraid, just interested. Marco read that it was very powerful, a "special" logia type. And it was said to be evil. "Maybe I'll make it so it's <em>not </em>evil. Having a devil fruit sounds real interesting. But I wish it was a flying zoan. Flying sounds awesome." Ace disagreed, saying it seemed scary. "I'd like to fly. Would be convenient."</p><p>"<em>Is there a swim one?"</em></p><p>Marco thought for a moment. "You know, I don't know. Not recorded. But there are all sorts of zoan types. Mythical, like me, ancient, flying types, carnivorous types. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an aquatic type somewhere out there. But it would be interesting."</p><p>"<em>Ace want to be water dragon, like in story Thatch say," </em>he said. Thatch and Marco smiled. Being a water dragon would indeed be cool. But Ace could never have that, since he already ate a devil fruit. "<em>Would be weird look dragon." </em>The chef snorted, and said that might be true. He took the book and Marco was surprised that he was choosing to eat it.</p><p>He wanted to try something new. "It doesn't mean I'll give up my swords, though. Maybe I can have swords of darkness! Oooo~" Ace snuffled a laugh. His laughs always sounded like muffled sneezes. They were adorable.</p><p>The faupta said, "<em>Ace like Jozu fruit most."</em></p><p>"Not Marco's?"</p><p>"<em>Birds not supposed to be on fire." </em>Thatch started laughing and Marco pointed out that phoenixs were mythical creatures. They were like magic, so that was why he was on fire. "<em>But heal part is help. Ace wish he could heal himself, but not able."</em></p><p>Thatch looked surprised, and Marco realized he didn't know. "Ace can heal other people to some extent." Marco looked around before telling Thatch the truth. "Don't tell anybody. We don't want anyone thinking Ace will just heal them because he could." Thatch was shocked, but then grinned and took Ace under the arms and held him up, thanking him.</p><p>He was uncomfortable with this and wriggled to be let down. He then went to the other side of Marco. Thatch asked if he didn't like that. Ace said it was too sudden. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to upset you. I won't do it again, promise. I'm just happy that you did that." Marco was impressed with his patience. That he didn't pout or mope about Ace not liking that affection.</p><p>"<em>Forgive. Not do again, though." </em>Thatch promised he wouldn't, and Ace moved back to the spot between them. Then he asked something surprising. "<em>Ace a Whitebeard right?"</em></p><p>"That's right." Ace looked at Marco's chest, and they both waited for him to speak, even though Marco was sure he and Thatch knew what he was going to ask.</p><p>He finally said, "<em>Ace not want tattoo, but show in other way." </em>The three brainstormed about what they could make him wear or show. He didn't want a collar, even if it wouldn't be as a pet. Marco could see others thinking he was a pet, though, that way.</p><p>"What about a stamp? One that would last awhile, but could be washed off?" Thatch offered. "I'm sure somebody could make one for you. Or maybe an armband of some sort." Marco nodded, agreeing with those options. Ace didn't wear shirts. Even if he did, they'd need to be designed just for his body. So the faupta decided on a stamp. A black one. And he would want it put it on his first shoulder.</p><p>Marco put the book away and Thatch pocketed his devil fruit, which he'd keep with him so nobody got the bright idea to steal it. Marco would ask for a stamp to be made later. Ace said he was going to take a nap, and went to his bed. He didn't seem tired, but he decided he wanted to nap, so he would.</p><p>"He's so damn precious," Thatch said once he was out of sight. "I'm glad he likes being here enough to want to show he's part of the crew." Marco agreed. Who knew he would end up like this? "I do wonder why he doesn't turn invisible anymore, though. It had been helpful before."</p><p>Marco answered, "Maybe it only is for defense. If he's scared or something." They were walking back out deck, the further they got from Ace, the more the unease and uncertainty came back. Only two days until they reached the Red Line and then half a day to coat the ship and then a couple hours to descend.</p><p>When they made it to Pops, Thatch told him about the devil fruit and how Ace wants to be able to show he's one of them, too. Whitebeard smiled at that, and it wasn't long before a stamp mold of the jolly roger was made. Those who were involved were consumed in the project, making it perfect. A distraction was very welcome.</p><p>It seemed this made everybody happy, that Ace wanted to prove to the world he was one of them, for it wasn't long before everyone were making things for him. New furniture for his tiny bedroom, new beds they could put places he wanted to sleep at, anything as a distraction.</p><p>Marco checked on each project, entertained and feeling fond of how much they all accepted Ace. Besides Teach, that is. "What's going on?" he wondered. So Marco told him about their flurry to make things for Ace while he napped. "Why?"</p><p>"They heard Ace wants something to show people he's one of us without getting a tattoo." Teach asked if Ace was going to stay that long. "Seems that way. He doesn't have anywhere to go now, and he doesn't seem to want to. We're happy to have him, even if you aren't." He said the last bit a little coldly, unable to help it. Teach didn't reply, but walked away a bit awkwardly.</p><p>When Ace trotted outside, he had a cookie in his mouth. Must have gone into the kitchen. He went to the railing and ate the cookie more. "Ace," Pops called. The faupta turned around, his floppy ears moving too and went to the captain. Whitebeard pat his lap, and Ace climbed up. "Your family made this while you were asleep."</p><p>He handed him the rubber stamp. It was a nice size. Marco gave him the little package of permanent ink that would last awhile. "<em>So fast! Ace only just ask."</em></p><p>"These fools wanted a distraction so they went on a building spree for you," Marco joked. Ace was surprised with how the base was made. Thick and rough. So even his not so delicate fingers could hold and use it. The littlest member dipping in in the ink and then pressed it to his arm, but it slipped and smeared.</p><p>He frowned in irritation, but then attempted the other side which worked. It was nice that Ace didn't rage. He didn't throw fits like even some of his adult brothers did. He looked at the black mark and seemed pretty satisfied with it. "<em>Ace like, thank you."</em></p><p>"You're very welcome," Pops said. "Now, we're getting closer to Fishman Island, and we need to teach you some rules. You have to behave a certain way down there. Everybody does, even myself and the commanders." He then told Ace about the tense relations between fishmen and humans. Ace didn't really seem interested. He wasn't a human, after all.</p><p>So he asked what he should do. "<em>Ace not human. What he do there? They get made at Ace, too?"</em></p><p>Marco was sitting on Pops shoulder with Ace on his knee and commented that people would be more surprised with him than offended. But that he had to show respect if it was given to him. The Whitebeards didn't allow people to walk all over them. If someone started a fight, well, they started it. The pirates weren't instigators, tried not to be. But they wouldn't run from someone.</p><p>"<em>If they rude to Ace? Then what do?" </em>he wondered. A good question. Marco looked at Pops, who had a thinking face on. He settled with just leaving the scene. It wasn't running away, but abandoning a useless problem. Ace didn't fight, didn't attack. If an argument would end up turning physical, might as well stop that before it happens by leaving the situation. "<em>What if they try to hurt Ace?"</em></p><p>Whitebeard asked, "Can you turn invisible at will? How you did at first?" Ace shook his head and said it only reacted when he was scared. Marco wasn't surprised by that. "Have you ever fought?"</p><p>"<em>Everyone leave Ace alone if he hiss or growl. Ace do that to them, too? And what if not leave Ace alone?"</em></p><p>"Then you have permission to use self defense," Pops said firmly. "Even if it hurts someone, you defend yourself, okay?" Ace looked surprised at how stern he sounded, but he nodded. Marco was glad the captain was being firm about this. Ace's claws could easily kill somebody, but they'd rather he kill someone than die himself. They wouldn't lose him, and would take any measure to keep him safe.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Fishman Island</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h4 class="heading byline">SarahGri99: Fishman island is here! The next few chapters are spent there.</h4><h4 class="heading byline">DorothyVane: It is time to worry soon, yes.</h4><h4 class="heading byline">Shadow22739: He's the baby of the ship, human or not, so they can't resist spoiling him. I did sort of model the asshole guy and girl as nobles, but they weren't. And who is stupid enough to stand outside the Whitebeard ship with hunting guns? Lol idiots.  </h4><h4 class="heading byline">Kucinggarong: Thank you, I'm glad you like it! Honestly, I despise Teach with all my heart. Like, when he briefly was shown in one of the latest episodes, I glared at him hatefully. I enjoy killing him in my fanfics. One is especially brutal in one of my unposted fics. </h4><h4 class="heading byline">Niss.Arsil: Oh, jeez that's a lot of broken bones! I've actually never broken a bone and I'm 23 lol. But poor Ace, even drugged out I tried to make him cute lol. I hope you don't get diabetes from the sweetness, I'd feel guilty!</h4><hr/><p>
  <strong>We're finally at fishman island in this chapter! Enjoy~</strong>
</p><hr/><p>Thatch was now keeping the fruit with him at all times. It had gotten out that he fished up a devil fruit, Ace accidentally mentioning it too loudly when talking with Pops, so of course they wanted to know what it was. When he told them, many whined about wanting it. But he had decided to eat it after the battle, or whatever happens once the conflict is resolved.</p><p>They were nearly there, with Fossa and his division doing the coating as they were stationed in front of the Red Line. Ace had pieces of foam stuck on each claw as he walked along the bubble coating. Marco was overseeing the coating, making sure everyone was being safe, when Ace waddled out.</p><p>He was unsteady on his feet, and the foam on his claws looked a bit hard to walk with, but he was exploring. Haruta and Thatch were watching from the entrance into the ship. The bubble coating was slippery if you walked on it slowly, so Ace was slipping around and landed on his face.</p><p>When he couldn't stand back up, he was letting out gruff noises of distress. Marco walked over easily and picked him up, setting him down. "Walk like you mean it. Don't look so hesitant, it won't pop under you," he encouraged.</p><p>Two minutes later and Ace was bouncing up and down on every surface. He was bummed when it was time to go down, while everyone else felt the same, but in a much different way. Afraid to go down and see what they had to deal with. The ship began to sink slowly, with Ace running from one side of the ship to the other to look at the completely new scenery. Everyone but him were silent, gloomy. Whitebeard was distracting himself by watching Ace.</p><p>"Should we call them and let them know we're here? There's somebody stationed at the bubble, right?" Pops nodded. The crew, many having been sleeping in preparation, gathered on the deck, Ace still at the side, as the captain called the island. There was no answer for a long time. But the second time they called, there was an answer.</p><p>"<em>Whitebeard-san? Are you coming soon?"</em></p><p>"Yes, we're on our way down right now. Give us the newest information." Marco was shocked when he heard that some of the fishmen pirates were camping in front of the bubble to pop the Moby Dick's bubble. "How foolish of them. You don't need to worry about us being taken out in such a pathetic way. How are things inside the country?"</p><p>"<em>The citizens have had to choose sides. Against them or with them. The palace bubble is full of refugees. I don't know what to do anymore. This is not my kingdom," </em>Neptune lamented. But he got ahold of himself quickly, and answered immediately when he was asked what they should do. Should they kill them? Incapacitate them? What were they to do?</p><p>Neptune told him to please try not to kill them. But, he explained the features of the main enemies, and was told they that they were high on performance enhancing drugs. Marco couldn't help but put his hand to his face. They were only able to do this with drugs? What a blow to do to your reputation.</p><p>"<em>If drugs bad, why not take away?" </em>Ace asked, suddenly close to Marco. He had a point. The drugs had to be made somewhere. Were they made at the kingdom? Or were they imported? And would the problem have been solved if the drugs were not there?</p><p>"<em>We don't know where they got the drugs from. Energy steroids. But they're all using it. Even just a little bit doubles their strength and changes their size. We don't know the extent of the drug and its side effects. Just beware them.</em></p><p>"<em>I don't expect most of the pirates to attack you. Not all of them are maniacs. But the main seven, I can't ask you to spare them if you can't."</em></p><p>"I don't kill the citizens of an island under me. We will do our best to contain them without killing, no matter the method. I can take care of some snot nosed brats if they try and pop our bubble," Whitebeard said in a firm voice, full of conviction. Ace seemed confused. Probably about why he was told to kill to protect himself, but people that were trying to kill all of them would not be?</p><p>Marco quietly told him he'd explain in a couple minutes. The faupta nodded and continued to listen. Much of the crew was on the deck now, silent to hear. And the world outside of the bubble was silent as well. The call carried around the deck so everybody was in on the scoop.</p><p>Pops said, "We'll take care of things and we'll be there as soon as possible. Just please have somebody able to open the gate for us." Neptune promised he could do that, and the call was ended. "How pathetic. To have to use a steroid to be powerful." Many of the others on the deck sighed as well.</p><p>Why would you ever use something that can run out or even cause harm to do something like this? They would run out eventually, or reach their maxim dosage or even overdose on it. Marco felt anger and pity and disgust. "Hody Jones". A white shark fishman. A man who needs a drug to be a match and fulfil goals is nothing.</p><p>"<em>Taking drug is bad? Everyone act it's bad. Drug for heal," </em>Ace said in confusion.</p><p>Marco explained that there was medicine, and then there were hard drugs. And that this one they were talking about boosted power level. Ace wondered what would happen when they ran out. "Then I assume they'd be fucked." Ace worried about the bubble popping. They would all drown or die from the pressure. Ace was starting to get worried, looking at the walls of the bubble in concern.</p><p>Thatch smiled and said he didn't need to worry about anything. "Pops has the power to make anyone comin' at the bubble pass out. When that happens, you have to go inside, okay? We don't want you to fall asleep as well," Thatch explained. Ace nodded, but still looked wary.</p><p>Whitebeard told Ace he wanted him to stay inside during the fight. To his credit, the faupta didn't protest, didn't complain about wanting to see what would happen. He was given permission to go anywhere he wanted until it was safe to come out.</p><p>Ace sat on Pops' knee while the pirates got ready for the fight as it got deeper and deeper. Eventually, Ace was told to go inside, where he headed to Marco's bedroom. He was afraid the bubble would pop and would break through the large open windows in the captain's room. Of course if the bubble popped, it wouldn't matter where they were on the ship, but that was beside the point.</p><p>Once he was inside, the nurses as well, Whitebeard stood up, grabbing his bisento with only the fifteen commanders out for this part. He didn't want all of his weaker willed sons to pass out at the very beginning. "Pops, do I go out?" Namur asked, the only fishman on the crew, somehow. He was told he could go in if he wished to. But that their first mission was to get inside the bubble.</p><p>Once they saw the sunlight that was from the Sunlight Tree Eve, Pops stood on the figurehead and they all saw the thousands of fishmen waiting down there for him. The yonko gave no speech, no option for them to leave now and not get hurt. If they went this far, getting ready to attack them, then they had had a lot of time to back out.</p><p>Most of the fishman had swords, and many looked overly muscular. All of these ones had conviction in their eyes. But Pops had taken care of them even before they could lift a sword at the ship. Nobody would be popping the bubble and killing all of Whitebeard's precious children. Conquerors haki was very useful. Wasn't used all that much, but was still invaluable.</p><p>As they docked, fishman floated around them, passed out. "Well that was kind of pathetic," Izo said. None of them had pulled any of their weapons. "Is it me or did none of these guys have even <em>nearly </em>a threatening presence?" He was completely unimpressed.</p><p>And the others agreed. "It would be humiliating for the royal guard if they can't fight against these guys and we're able to take them out in no time," Haruta said. Marco pointed out that the royal guard didn't often fight wars. It was a small kingdom, and it was in political turmoil at the moment. "Still…"</p><p>"We shouldn't underestimate the enemy, regardless," Jozu said. The ship was sailed to the entrance, and other pirates filtered out, now. Pops was unlikely to use haki again. Nobody was at the platform, so Namur swam into the water and forced himself through the gate. Marco didn't know what was going on inside, since the texture of the bubble was thick and making the interior blurry and hard to make out, but it didn't take long until the barrier opened, allowing the Moby Dick inside.</p><p>When they got inside and their ship bubble popped, the ship let out a collective sigh. They didn't drown. Now the real work started. "Listen, sons! Kill only if necessary. Try to limit damage, but don't disgrace yourselves. Understand?"</p><p>"Aye!" the ship shouted. Namur came out of the interior building, two of the workers there, both unconscious and seeming to have been assaulted. Marco frowned deeply. This would be a huge scar on the kingdom's history. Hopefully the wait was worse than what actually happens. They got off of the ship, all of them but Ace and the nurses, and confronted their challenge.</p><p>Tens of thousands of fishmen stood in their way. The fifteen commanders stood at the front, Pops with them, with the rest of the 1,600 member crew standing behind. They were very small compared to what they were facing, but most of these were citizens who were forced into this. The Whitebeards would triumph, it was just to be seen how many injuries were sustained on the other side.</p><p>The pirates could all see the six instigators sitting in and around a throne. Disgusting. "Are you the drugged out brats attempting to overthrow your kingdom?" Pops asked, sounding irate. They took offense at this.</p><p>"You're just an old man compared to an army of hundreds of thousands!" the shark fishman said, voice sounding so smug it was irritating.</p><p>Fossa said, "At least we don't need to take drugs to be powerful." Hody's face went angry immediately. Marco asked what they would do once the drugs ran out.</p><p>"Unlike real strength that you work towards, your drugs will either kill you or run out. All the citizens pulled into this, leave now. Each and every one of you will be vetted to make sure you are telling the truth and are not just fleeing out of fear," Marco announced. A large majority stood frozen, fearful.</p><p>"If you leave-!" Hody began, clearly going to scare the citizens into bending to his words, Marco was there and kicked him across the face, then back in the air.</p><p>He scowled at him. "Leave if you were coerced into this! Don't mind this fool and his big words backed up by fakery." The whole drug thing seemed to be pissing off some while entertaining others of the leaders. But they were irritated with the max exodus of people that were clearly only there out of pressure and fear. They were losing the majority of their army.</p><p>The yonko said, "You have put your kingdom and royal family through hell and I won't let you off easy. But, be at peace my earthquakes will not end you. It would not be good to pop the bubble. Sons, take out anyone who has not surrendered!"</p><p>The commanders and the rest of the crew ran forwards, getting into the battle. Marco went after Hody with Jozu, both of them the best fighter combo. While he was stronger than normal, Jozu beat him easily and Marco's moves confused him. When he began stuffing pills from his pocket into his mouth, his size doubled and his hair turned white.</p><p>But even with his body falsely enhanced, he was clumsy, clearly not a good close combat fighter. His trident was snapped in half by Marco, easily. Marco could hear and feel all of the fighting around. Even though there were over maybe 10,000 Fishman Pirates left, they were overpowered, most of them inexperienced and especially not capable of fighting the Whitebeard pirates.</p><p>If they were that strong, then the island wouldn't need Whitebeard guarding its territory. Marco knew that taking the head was the quickest way to cinch a defeat, so he and Jozu focused only on the leader. But, the more and more he stuffed pills in his mouth, which was what Marco could smell happening with the other leaders as they fought other commanders, was that it was actually doing significant harm to them.</p><p>Hody was having trouble breathing, tweaking out, and looking confused and angry at the same time. And while his size and strength kept multiplying, the side effects were enough to ruin him. Maybe with an inexperienced opponent - one of them - it would have worked. But both commanders could read his movements easily.</p><p>"The bigger you get, the bigger of a target you make," Marco said in disappointment.</p><p>"Don't look down on us you human scum!" Hody shouted, and bit Jozu's shoulder. Too bad for him, the third division commander turned that shoulder into diamond at that moment, and his teeth all shattered. Marco knew they could reform, so while he was stunned at losing his teeth, Marco was behind him and pulled his arm out of his socket.</p><p>Flying made things like that easier. Just pull up and to the side and "pop!" out goes the arm. Hody screamed and Jozu took the other arm. Marco shoved him to the ground, both arms restrained. "Your little reign of terror is over," Marco said, and kicked his temple to knock him out.</p><p>The other fights were over. Now the main problem was how to sort the innocents from the pirates. The other leaders were out cold, nobody dead, but one unable to walk any longer with the crushed tentacles.</p><p>All of the commanders watched their fallen, drugged out enemies finally succumb to the drug. Their whole bodies seemed to age and shrivel, hair turning white and teeth falling out. "All this time we worried for <em>these </em>guys?" Thatch asked in disbelief. "The military needs to get better here. I love Fishman Island, but guys, come on."</p><p>Marco agreed, but got the rope and told everyone to tie the enemies up. When they counted their heads, there were three broken arms, nine sprained ankles or wrists and one head injury that didn't look too bad so far. On the other side? Countless broken bones, missing teeth, bloodies faces, many destroyed testicles probably from low blows and one death. But that one happened with poison from a neighboring fighter getting in the other's mouth.</p><p>Over all, it was a very one sided battle. They, along with the army now doing their jobs, herded fishmen into places where they were supposed to go. There weren't nearly enough prison cells for everybody, so the shipwright division started building them. Marco oversaw everything until things looked to be going smoothly. Pops was speaking with the king while Marco was to go and take care of this Vander Decken, the perverted man who wanted to marry a young child. He found him fairly easily. He had to make a bubble around himself and head to the source of it all with Namur as a guard.</p><p>Marco could fly in his bubble, so he wasn't hindered at all by being in the water. He flew to where he saw the large ship that they knew he used. He found the man and dodged his grabs. He didn't want the guy touching him. After all, he had some kind of homing fruit. And he definitely had a devil fruit or else why would he use a bubble in the water as a fishman?</p><p>All they had to do was have Namur pop his bubble, and he became immobile completely, suffering the curse of the devil fruit. The fishman dragged him back, and Marco loudly commanded every person in that district report to the capital.</p><p>"Imm<em>ediately!" </em>he added. They all frantically swam to the capital. They should have felt this fear the whole time! They should have been terrified of Whitebeard's wrath and would not have pulled all that shit for the last month. He huffed and shook his head before flying back to the main bubble.</p><p>Pops was with Neptune and the princes, all glaring furiously at the detained Vander Decken. Hopefully he couldn't hurt the princess anymore. Marco flew to the captain, and asked if he could do anything more. "Go find Ace and assure him everyone is safe and well." Marco nodded and flew into the ship.</p><p>He followed Ace's presence, who was in his room under the blankets. Marco knocked on the door and opened it to see a worried looking Ace peeking out from under the sheets. "Everything went well. The bad guys are accounted for and the good guys won," Marco assured him.</p><p>"<em>Promise?" </em>Looked like it really scared him. Marco nodded. He promised. Ace ran over and sighed in relief.</p><p>"Come on, let's go find Thatch and he can decide to eat the devil fruit now," Marco said. Ace nodded excitedly and walked along with him. Marco looked around for him and found him in the kitchen. "Thatch, what are you doing about the devil fruit? The war is over, and I'm sure it's been weighing a ton in your pocket." Ace hurried over and looked up at him, wondering if he'd eat it soon.</p><p>Thatch grinned and said, "I'll eat it after the victory feast tonight. I wish there was something I could cook it as, but I'm sure it will taste terrible no matter what I try. Now, want to go see the island, Ace? But you can't get off the ship yet, just wait there and look around."</p><p>Ace nodded and the three left. The fluffy, six limbed one was nervous to be outside at first before he took the plunge and ran out. Marco smiled, taking in a deep breath. They were fine, Fishman Island needed a lot of repairing, so they'd be there awhile, and nobody on the crew was dead. The last few weeks had been a stressful time. Now Marco planned on repaying Ace for being a good distraction by giving him the best tour of the island.</p><p>"<em>So colorful," </em>Ace said, voice sounding excited. Marco said it was one of the best things about the island. He flew to Pops and asked him if he could take Ace off of the ship and to explore. He agreed, but said to keep him safe. "Of course." He flew back to Thatch and Ace on the ship. Ace's tail was swaying back and forth excitedly, barely able to stand still.</p><p>"Pops said we can give you a tour of the island," Marco said happily. Ace was super excited, and neither of them made him wear the poncho. Thatch and Marco dropped to the ground, and Thatch put his arms out for Ace to jump down. They hadn't even put the ramp down before charging in. the dock was high up, so the jump wasn't too drastic.</p><p>The two commanders lead Ace through the main city, staying away from the heavily staffed areas. They didn't need Marco and Thatch to deal with everything there. Pops was on too friendly relations with the royal family for Marco to need to be there as well. They would pay their respects to Queen Otohime when it was the right time.</p><p>There was barley anybody around, so Ace got uninterrupted time to see the scenery of the colorful land. It was peaceful but for Ace asking questions about what things were. Marco was content to let Thatch answer. He was just smiling, feeling so happy and relaxed. Nobody on the crew was dead, Fishman Island was not completely destroyed, they'd defeated the enemy <em>easily. </em>Things had been way worse in their heads, no doubt.</p><p>If they'd known more about the instigators and those drugs they took, if they knew of that side effect, they would have been much less stressed out about it. Well, those days were behind. Now they'd bring Ace to every island, safely, and they'd all be awake and asleep at the same time again!</p><p>"Ace, guess what?" Thatch asked. Ace looked up. "Soon, you'll get to be alone at night. You can explore and run around as much as you want without anybody there to stop you!"</p><p>Ace was very happy with that news. "<em>Not noisy at night anymore? Ace get to alone?"</em></p><p>"That's right. Do what you want when the ship is nice and quiet," Thatch replied. Marco hadn't seen him so happy in a long time. Thatch gave him a look that seemed to resonate "You're pretty happy, too, y'know."</p><p>When a hermit crab started moving on the ground, Ace hissed at it. "Don't worry, it's just a hermit crab," Thatch said, picking it up. He held it out but was good to not approach Ace with it. "This little guy can't hurt us."</p><p>The faupta walked closer and inspected it. When Thatch set it back down, Ace watched it flee as fast as it could. He waked after it, sniffing it before he got bored and saw a regular crab. He didn't hiss or spit this time, though. He approached it and poked it. He obviously didn't feel it when they crab latched onto one of his long claws.</p><p>It scurried away, and they were in range of the market. Nobody was working, but there was left over food from before whenever it was shut down. "Want to try some new food?" Marco asked. Ace nodded and ran over, sniffing the surroundings and food. They made sure Thatch approved of whatever it was was edible. Ace was in a wonderful mood, someplace new and not hidden away or his curiosity restricted.</p><p>When people started returning to their homes, mostly mermaids and female fishmen, Marco noticed they didn't think Ace was some sort of abomination. He assumed it was because they thought he was just another surface mammal. And he asked "<em>what happened to the fish?"</em> when the first mermaid came into view. Both he and Thatch snorted at that, and explained what mermaids were.</p><p>It was nice, how Ace was left alone mostly to explore the area. He wasn't bothering anybody and they weren't bothering them. It was probably a rare time this would happen. But he wasn't interested in meeting more people, just inspecting the surroundings.</p><p>After a good hour of exploring, Marco decided they should go look for Pops. "<em>Ace have go back to ship?"</em></p><p>"Nah, I'm sure Pops will want to introduce you to King Neptune," Marco said. Thatch asked if he was sure. "It's fine. If he's busy, then we can wait." The three made their ways into the areas that Marco sensed Pops at. "These were all of the bad guys. The drugs we talked about? They made the users bodies age drastically. They turned into old men, weak and brittle," Marco explained, though they had clearly been the first to go. They were no doubt in the big prison cells.</p><p>Marco glared at all of the detained fishmen being attended to by the army. They must all feel humiliated about the whole thing. They should be. And maybe they should do something to include the Fishman District into the community so this kind of thing can't happen again. There will always be fishmen hating humans. That was never going to change. But they need to contain that hatred.</p><p>He took a deep breath to try and move on and just enjoy the tour with Thatch and Ace. Ace picked up a red shells, sniffled it and then ate it. "Ace, your not supposed to eat the shells," Marco said in slight surprise.</p><p>"<em>Why?"</em></p><p>"Well - they're just not food. They're shells," Marco said, confused as to why he would eat one. Ace said they tasted good.</p><p>"This one?" Thatch wondered, picking up a red shell. Ace nodded and Thatch licked it, making Marco look in disgust. "Hey! These do taste sweet!" he said in surprise. Ace was happy Thatch agreed. "But lets not eat them. Here, why don't we collect some and then clean them off. Maybe I could make them into a dessert?"</p><p>"<em>Shell be sprinkle bits," </em>Ace said excitedly.</p><p>"Chocolate with red shell sprinkles, hmm? That can be your treat tonight. And we'll be spending it at the royal palace, so we can use their fancy kitchen. Not nearly as wonderful as <em>my </em>kitchen, but good quality nonetheless."</p><p>Marco smiled as he watched Ace collect the shells and Thatch stuff them into his pockets. When they did find Pops, he was sitting with the royal family. Ace peeked around the corner, and the captain of course sensed them there. "Ace, how are you liking the island? It's beautiful, isn't it?"</p><p>"<em>Yeah. And lots of half fish ladies. And Ace find shells that are to eat and taste good," </em>Ace said enthusiastically. Pops laughed and said there were indeed a lot of mermaids. Thatch and Marco bowed to the royal family, all who looked exhausted but relieved. At least Shirahoshi wasn't trapped anymore. They made sure sea stone cuffs were available for her stalker and abuser's transport.</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. A Happy Time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h4 class="heading byline">Kucinggarong: All of my fics kill off Teach, so who knows what will happen...? lol.</h4><h4 class="heading byline">Neko_D_Haze: Thank you! I did my best to make him an adorable character. </h4><h4 class="heading byline">SarahGri99: One of the strongest crews ever. I'm still irritated about the Marineford arc. Compared to Big Mom's crew later, it seems like the Whitebeards aren't all as strong as they were made out to be earlier. &gt;:( </h4><hr/><p>
  <strong>Very short chapter this time, but I couldn't resist a cliffhanger. Mwahaha.</strong>
</p><hr/><p>Ace walked over to Whitebeard, puffing up slightly at the three princes that didn't look like the mermaids or female fishmen he'd seen so far. "Don't worry, these people are our friends and allies."</p><p>"<em>The ones we come for help?" </em>Pops nodded. "<em>Oh," </em>Ace said simply and relaxed, the puffed up fur flattening. Marco knew Ace was indeed strange to them. Usually animals couldn't speak, and Ace really didn't look like an animal, being partially human in some spots. Neptune awkwardly but politely asked who Ace might be.</p><p>Thatch introduced him. "This is Ace, a faupta who ate the human human zoan fruit."</p><p>"Fowpta?"</p><p>"Faupta. He stowed away on our ship and ate a lot of our food. But he wanted to stay, and we were happy to oblige," Thatch explained. Shirahoshi was attempting to hide from him, even though she looked very curious.</p><p>"Did you know that these sea shells tasted good?" Marco asked, trying to make the situation a bit less awkward. She shook her head, and Ace looked concerned about others knowing they tasted good. "I'm sure there's enough for your sprinkles, Ace." Pops chuckled, and Ace walked into his lap and sat on his knee. He was content to sit and watch. The royal kids were looking at him curiously, but he didn't take offense, thankfully.</p><p>The Whitebeards were pledged to help rebuild the city. Ace perked up at this, excited to be able to explore more. There were many damaged areas from the pirates going crazy, attacking and looting buildings and shops.</p><p>"We will take the Fishman District under us, no longer excluding them," Neptune promised. Whitebeard nodded, thinking that was a good idea. Ace fell asleep eventually. Pirates started to gather, all of the former enemies taken care of. Those who had taken the pills were feeling ill, but had not aged fifty years from it as a side effect.</p><p>Pops stood up after gently picking Ace up into one hand. "Why don't we get the ship docked properly? Move it inland," he said. The pirates nodded, and they all went to the Moby Dick to dock it properly in the right place. Not lingering in the entrance to the island. Ace was still sleeping in Pops' hand as they moved the ship.</p><p>Marco could tell everybody felt one hundred times better than they did before the fight, besides those with broken bones. Once the ship was in its proper place, the commanders were heading to the palace before the feast was brought down. That was easier because getting 1,600 people up to the royal bubble would be time consuming, and all of them would not fit in the main room.</p><p>So, the feast was going to be at the ship. The sea king dishes made were worth the wait. Marco asked if Ace could come up with the commanders as well, and he wasn't surprised when Pops said that was fine.</p><p>When the gondola eel came, they all got on board, being a bit cramped. Thatch woke Ace up to watch the ground get smaller and further away. But he didn't like the heights and hid his face with his hands. "Don't worry, we're almost there," Thatch soothed. Ace kept his face covered until they were at the palace and accepted into the second bubble.</p><p>"We're here," Marco said, and Ace cautiously peeked through his claws. He let out a sigh of relief and stood up. They got off of the eel, out of the stuffy space, and made their way to the palace. They needed bubbles besides Namur. Ace was on Pops' shoulder in his bubble because they were worried Ace's claws might accidentally pop his own bubble.</p><p>He was in awe at the palace, saying it looked shiny and pretty. Neptune thanked him as a compliment. Ace was busy looking around, wanting to explore the area, but not wanting to go off on his own. When they entered the palace, it was filled with air, so they didn't need the bubbles anymore.</p><p>They had a meeting about the battle, speaking in more depth about what needed to be done to fix up the island. Nobody protested staying and helping out. It was their duty to do so, and Pops was good friends with Neptune for a long time. After the meeting was over, Ace clearly wanted to explore, looking at all the exits longingly.</p><p>Fukaboshi saw this and offered to give Ace a tour. He narrowed his eyes at the mershark but then deemed it safe, and Marco and Thatch went with them. They explored the palace, Ace stopping to sniff or look at certain things. They were patient with him, letting him explore what he wanted.</p><p>He didn't go in all of the rooms, but did look in some. His claws clicked on the floor, his tail swaying back and forth. "<em>Thatch is eat fruit tonight?" </em>Ace asked curiously. Thatch pulled the fruit out of his pocket and nodded, saying he was excited to do so. Something new and interesting to happen.</p><p>"Then we'll have five devil fruit users on our ship. Including Ace, of course," Marco added. Fukaboshi looked curious, and Marco explained that Ace could speak because he ate a human devil fruit. Ace nodded, his ears flopping a bit. "<em>Jozu always best."</em></p><p>Thatch laughed when Marco bristled. He was usually the one who people said had the best devil fruit. But then he shook his head at himself. What, was he twelve? Ace believed birds shouldn't be on fire, so Marco's devil fruit was <em>wrong</em>. It was such a childish thing to say, but he couldn't be mad at him.</p><p>"Hey, Ace? How big will you grow?" Thatch asked. Marco couldn't believe nobody had asked him that yet. He was part human, so would he grow large? He would be much more noticeable in a man's size with his features. But Ace said he wouldn't get bigger than he was now. Marco was kind of glad, deep inside. He'd stay cute for all his life.</p><p>While they were walking, Ace suddenly frowned and slowed. "What's wrong?" Marco wondered.</p><p>"<em>Ace want to nap," </em>he explained. Marco offered to carry him back to the comfortable room. Fukaboshi looked a bit confused, so Thatch said that Ace liked or needed naps throughout the day and night. Ace agreed to being carried, and Marco picked the light faupta up and cradled him. He fell asleep in his arms, snoozing quietly.</p><p>"He's so cute!" Thatch whispered. Marco had to agree. Anybody would think he was cute. Fukaboshi said he didn't know creatures like Ace lived on the surface. "Ace is from a special island with animals we've never seen before. He learned to talk by listening to us. He's really intelligent." Marco thought Thatch sounded like he was bragging and it made him smile.</p><p>When they got back to the main room where many of the commanders still were, Marco found one of the empty plush chairs about the room and laid Ace down there to sleep. Haruta asked if he was okay. "Yeah. He decided he wanted to nap all of the sudden."</p><p>The others looked a bit puzzled and Haruta asked, "Does he <em>have </em>to nap or want to?" Thatch nodded, saying he was thinking about that, too. Marco was as well, since it had been so sudden that he needed or wanted a nap. So, did he require so much sleep, or just enjoy it? Maybe he'd answer once he was awake again, whenever that was.</p><p>Shirahoshi was with her brothers a bit away, looking at Ace in a nervous light. "He's not scary," Marco said kindly. She was only five, and finally not stuck in Shell Tower for safety from a madman-pedophile.</p><p>"But, his fingers are so sharp," she said quietly, behind her three brothers. They had an air of sadness, and it wasn't unjustified. Their mother was murdered only weeks ago. Marco thought they were doing very well to not show their sorrow and grief. He knew they weren't over it, because Otohime had been a loving mother, and would be missed.</p><p>Marco said they were indeed sharp, but he never used them as weapons. "Does he ever scratch you?"</p><p>Haruta answered, saying, "On accident sometimes, but never on purpose. He uses his claws as fingers, so it's inevitable that they would scratch sometimes. But nobody has gotten seriously hurt from it." The princess still looked afraid.</p><p>Pops was watching curiously, also looking happy that they were defending Ace. He was the baby, after all. "There's no need to worry, princess. Ace won't approach you. And he's harmless. Even when he was cornered and afraid, he did not attack." He was so happy talking about Ace that it brought a smile to Marco's face.</p><p>Ace found a home, and they found a little brother they never knew they needed. He was so happy that the weird little creature got hungry and ransacked their ship.</p><p>That night, the party and feast was had throughout the whole ship. Inside and out on deck, they ate the food that was being cooked in real time. It wasn't by Thatch, who had gone inside to make Ace's favorite sweet glaze to pour over his sea king meat. Ace was with him, wide awake after the long nap he'd had at the palace.</p><p>The food was delicious, and the stress from the last month was gone, dissipated. They still had a lot of work to do to help rebuild and help heal the kingdom. The pirates would not be doing most of the work with healing and reforming trust and comfort to all of the citizens who had not been willingly taking place in the coup.</p><p>Marco noticed Teach getting off the ship quickly, and Marco asked where he was going. "For a long walk. For once, it's too noisy! Zehahaha!" he said. "I'll be back soon, don't worry."</p><p>"Alright, see you later," Marco said, and went back to drinking and eating.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>Side note: Am I the only one who finds Shirahoshi's sub voice like nails on a chalkboard? </strong>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Upsetting Times</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Vann_Dorothy: Teach is an asshole in this one, like all my other ones. So hopefully he'll end up dead, like most of my other ones lol. </b>
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  <b>Shadow22739: Yeah, her voice just... it doesn't sound like a real person's voice. Like the voice actor already had a high voice but was trying to make it even higher. It's just terrible lol. And Ace maybe is the size of a beagle. That's the best comparison. And yeah, big faupta Ace would look really weird. </b>
</p><h4 class="heading byline">Kucinggarong: Because he must be!</h4><h4 class="heading byline">Pia_Pia: (✯◡✯)</h4><h4 class="heading byline">Niss.Arsil: Don't worry, this is a fluffy story! And Ace is the size of a beagle. So, small but not tiny. </h4><hr/><p>
  <strong>A lot of stuff happens this chapter! Of course with cute Ace. No chapter can pass with him not being cute. Enjoy~</strong>
</p><hr/><p>It was fifteen minutes later that a blood soaked Thatch came running out, holding an unconscious Ace. "THATCH!" Marco shouted, many seeing the shape he was in and running to him. He was so pale. He handed Ace to Haruta and then got on his hands and knees to breathe deeply. He was clearly suffering from blood loss, and what was wrong with Ace? He had a dark bruise forming on his cheek.</p><p>Marco picked Thatch up and ran with him to the infirmary, the nurses already having gotten up from their spot and running where they needed to be to prep. Haruta ran after him with Ace, and both of them laid the injured crew members on hospital beds. Ace looked so tiny on the large bed.</p><p>Thatch was still awake, but just barely. "Thatch, what the hell happened!?" Marco demanded, eyes wide in worry and fear. Had he stabbed fallen on something that impaled him?</p><p>"Teach stabbed me and attacked Ace," Thatch said, seeming determined to speak, even as he was pale. He was getting an IV drip for his blood loss. Those in the room froze. Teach had left after stabbing Thatch? That's why he got off the ship! But where the hell was he planning on going? He was trapped on Fishman Island, didn't he know that?</p><p>Pops looked shocked and angry. He walked to the bed Ace was on and sat down next to him. It was the bed sized for the largest on the crew. He picked up the faupta and held him in his warm hands.</p><p>"What happened? Can you go into detail?" the captain asked, voice low. Thatch nodded and explained.</p><p>"I was making Ace the sauce he wanted. I was the only one in the storage room, Ace standing in the hallway. I was looking for some cinnamon and Ace made a squealing noise from the hallway, so I hurried to the doorway. He was crying and holding his face where Teach kicked him.</p><p>"I didn't even get to ask what the hell he did before he stabbed me. Then he grabbed Ace and threw him into the room where I was bleeding out. I couldn't even scream for help, and even if I did, the hallway was cleared. Teach took the devil fruit from me before leaving, laughing about it.</p><p>"I don't remember falling asleep, but Ace was crying. And then I was better. I still have a fuckin' killer headache, but the stab wound was gone. Ace was unconscious next to me, so I brought him out and here we are." suddenly tears sprung into his eyes. "My brother tried to kill me," he sniffled. Then he finally fell asleep, and the room was in shock. If there was no proof, they wouldn't have believed it. Thatch's wound was checked, the place with the most blood, but the injury was gone.</p><p>"What? How'd that happen?" Izo asked. All of the commanders were in there, with pirates bunched in the hallway behind the closed double doors.</p><p>Marco explained about Ace's healing power, how it had helped Pops. They demanded to know why they weren't told. "At first it was because we didn't want you to only like Ace because he helped him. Then it slipped my mind after all the stress."</p><p>Namur looked at Ace and asked, "So, he saved Thatch's life, then?" Marco nodded and asked Tami to check on him. She hurried over and checked him over. He had a few bruises on his face and left front arm. It made Marco furious that anyone had harmed Ace, and that Thatch had almost lost his life.</p><p>"Get a search party out, now," Pops said darkly. "And I want those proficient in haki. Keep yourself covered if you find him. We all know what that devil fruit can do. Don't let it harm you," he ordered. Those with the best haki left, which were Jozu, Atmos, Rayuko and Fossa. They hurried out, going to get their weapons before leaving.</p><p>Marco didn't want to leave them, but said he was going to search from above, even though it was dark out, he could see well with his sensitive eye sight. Whitebeard told him to be careful, and the phoenix nodded, leaving immediately and flying away.</p><p>He searched the area, but it had been a good twenty minutes. Marco assumed Thatch had been catching his breath, trying to stand and get out, which was why he took so long to get help after the stabbing. After the ultimate betrayal. So he searched the island before coming across unconscious guards at the exit where a few ships were lined up. He didn't sense or see Teach, so there was only one explanation.</p><p>He landed near the guards and shook them awake. They were beaten, but alive. "What happened here?"</p><p>"Some human attacked up and stole one of the coated ships that had been meant for the queen to go to the surface," one of the fishmen guards explained. He was holding his head in pain, so he must have an injury there. Marco asked if he was fat with bushy hair and missing teeth. "I didn't see him. All there was was black. Everywhere was dark."</p><p>Marco swore loudly, looking out of the bubble. Damn it for them being so close to the exit! It must have taken Teach no time to get out of the island and head for the surface. He went to Sabaody, not back to the New World. He swore again and flew back to the ship to give the bad news.</p><p>He found Pops still in the infirmary, with Ace having awakened and sobbing those pitiful cries, saying he was so scared. Haruta was sitting with him, and Pops was rubbing a finger up and down his back. Marco walked to him and took his hands. "Thatch will live. You saved him. I'm sure you were very brave," he said firmly, Ace still hiccupping with a running nose and teary eyes and cheeks.</p><p>Pops calmly asked where Teach was. Marco had come back empty handed, after all. "He stole a ship and left Fishman Island," Marco said in an irritated voice. Izo demanded to know when they were going after him. The captain closed his eyes and said they weren't going after him. "What?" Marco asked in shock. "He betrayed us!" He couldn't help but raise his voice.</p><p>"We know in detail what that devil fruit can do. Thatch is alive. As much as I want to punish him in the worst way for committing the ultimate sin, I won't put anymore of my sons in harms way," he said, sounding resigned. He clearly didn't like having that answer, either. He wanted to show the world and Teach that a betrayal of the Whitebeard pirates was unacceptable. "I want everyone to live. If we come across that traitor, we will act accordingly."</p><p>"<em>Ace not want see him again," </em>Ace sniffled. Pops kindly said they'd never let Teach anywhere near him ever again. Ace leaned to the side to rest against the captain, sniffling a little bit but mostly under control now.</p><p>After a bit of silence - brooding, angry and depressed silence - with the other commanders back and knowing the news, Thatch woke up, looking better, if not still tired. Ace saw and jumped from the big bed to Thatch's. It barely rattled it. Thatch pet Ace's hair and hugged him. "Thank you," he said.</p><p>"<em>Ace not let family die," </em>the faupta said firmly. Thatch smiled and said he knew that. He turned to the others and asked where Teach was, if he was in the brig or what. When he was told he got away, Thatch was furious before he took some deep breaths and was calm again. He asked what they would do, then. Let him off scot free?</p><p>The others didn't like this much either, but nobody openly said Pops was wrong. Marco knew that he was right about the devil fruit being dangerous, but he wouldn't understand how Teach could learn it so fast. They should take care of him while he hasn't yet mastered it. Fuck, and they even talked about an enemy having that would be a bad idea. Thatch should have eaten it sooner or tossed it into the ocean.</p><p>But who would have thought this would happen? That one of their members, who had been there since he was 12, would betray in such a way as to try and kill Thatch? And he wasn't planning on making it unknown who did it when Ace was there, conscious and afraid. He must have been so scared.</p><p>The phoenix would not be surprised if he couldn't sleep alone for a few nights. The captain asked Fossa to inform everybody of the situation. He said, with finality, that they weren't going after Teach at this time.</p><p>"What do you think his goal is?" Haruta asked, fists balled in anger. Nobody knew what to think of him. He wasn't who he acted like. He was a traitor, a killer of his own family. Why was a devil fruit more important than that? Or did he never feel how he acted? Had he ever considered them family?</p><p>Marco was almost disgusted by thinking of that scum as family. He worried there were others like him on the crew. Other traitors just biding their time before they act. He shook his head, trying to not doubt all of his brothers because one was secretly rotten. Pops hadn't seen it, and he was no doubt angry at himself, doubting that he actually could read people. See who was good and who was not.</p><p>The confidence in everyone on the crew would no doubt lower for awhile. That they never noticed. And the commanders felt the worst. Maybe if there had been a second division commander they would have seen. But even then, those from the beginning should have seen it long ago. Unless he only just chose to act like this.</p><p>Either way, a traitor was a traitor, and all they should get is death. But that wasn't what was going to happen now, it seemed.</p><p>The whole crew was irritated about not taking revenge, the second division the most. Pops didn't waver, though, in his decision. The mood and party was ruined. The pirates cleaned up, telling the fishmen and merfolk that they were retiring for the night, not explaining what happened. They'd tell the royals the next day, after everything sunk in.</p><p>Most went straight to bed, wanting to just fall asleep and get away from their anger or hurt or both. Ace ended up sleeping with Thatch. Marco would suspect Ace would be more attached to Thatch now. After all, Thatch was dying in front of him, and that had to be terrifying. He saved their chef, and Marco couldn't thank him enough.</p><p>But for now, he just wanted to sleep, as did everybody else. During the middle of the night, Marco waking up after falling asleep over and over, he sensed Ace leave Thatch's room and went running down the hall. Marco hoped he enjoyed his alone time. Maybe he wasn't so scared after all. Clearly, Teach was not returning, so what did he have to be afraid of?</p><p>In the morning, Thatch was in the kitchen with Ace on the bar stool, his back legs on the stool and his arms on the counter leaning forward and looking at what Thatch was doing. "Hey," Marco said. Nobody else was up. Thatch gave a resigned greeting, not looking up. "Ace, how did you like last night?"</p><p>"<em>Ace like a lot. Got explore on own and run places," </em>Ace said, sounding pleased. He was probably going to be the one in the best mood, despite being attacked. He'd disliked Teach from the beginning, so it wasn't exactly sad for him to betray them. Marco was glad for him. But then he saw the other side of his face that had a big, swollen bruise. Teach had kicked him <em>hard. </em>It was lucky his jaw or cheek bone didn't break.</p><p>Marco sat next to him and asked how his bruises were. "<em>Not hurt unless touch," </em>Ace replied. Thatch gave him his plate of pancakes and french toast, which he ate happily. Thatch smiled at him, and leaned his forearms on the counter. "<em>What we do next? For help?"</em></p><p>"Help rebuild broken property. The pirates had damaged a lot, and it will take time to repair. That and probably talk to the victims personally, ask if they're okay, tell them we have their backs so they don't need to be fearful of this again. We should help at the Fishman District since the kingdom is going to try and converge with them. They've been left out there too long in my opinion," Marco explained.</p><p>"<em>Ace help?"</em></p><p>Marco asked what he'd like to help with. Ace looked puzzled, thinking about what he could do to help. "<em>Ace bring food with Thatch. Ace carry things with extra arms." </em>Thatch grinned and said he was more than welcome to help. Marco wasn't surprised that Thatch was planning on supplying the workers with food and refreshments. Marco would be part of the group to go and speak with the Fishman District most likely. Besides Namur, it was easiest for him to travel underwater in the bubbles. Flying in them worked well. He even enjoyed it.</p><p>Thatch said, "You know, having four arms would be really convenient. I'd look weird, but it would be pretty helpful."</p><p>"<em>Extra arms help for Ace walk on front two," </em>Ace said around his toast. "<em>Sometime claws not help, slippery. Humans finger pick up better."</em></p><p>Marco said, "You have claws for a reason, right? What did you use them for in the wild? Before you were on the ship?" He was curious, since he didn't attack anyone with them. But they had to have an evolutionary purpose.</p><p>"<em>Other faupta not have these. Only Ace. Other faupta have regular claws." </em>So <em>that</em> was it. They were like that because of his human human fruit. "<em>But Ace hunt with them." </em>Ace took a big drink of his orange juice as some more pirates filtered in. Thatch turned the extra stoves on and got ready to start the real work. His sous chefs came in, too. Nobody said a thing, just worked seamlessly together to make the meal.</p><p>Ace moved his food to the table, carrying it on his back and then getting it up on the table without spilling anything. He got good at that. More pirates came in, and once everyone was inside, it was uncomfortably quiet. Not even whispers. Only the clinking sounds of utensils on plates. Everyone was depressed.</p><p>Marco tried not to think about it, but it was hard. There were many sad faces, but also sour and livid ones as they scowled and glared at their food. Marco could understand both sides. He was sad that everything had been a lie, and angry that Teach was a traitor and attacked Thatch. If Ace hadn't been there, they would have found their brother dead, alone in the storage room.</p><p>He managed to hold his gag at the thought, but had to take a second to cool down to eat again. He might not have an appetite, but they had a lot of work to do that day and he needed to be well fed to do said work. Everyone did.</p><p>Once the meal was finished, many having been valiant and eaten all on their plates, they all got organized to do their jobs. Ace was staying with Thatch and the sous chefs. He would help carry the food around. Ace wasn't exceptionally strong, so hard labor would be useless and just dangerous for him. So delivery it was!</p><p>Marco was with Namur and Neptune to speak with those in the Fishman District. He didn't think it would go very well, but he wouldn't be the one talking. Just be there to represent Whitebeard. He wasn't going to go out in a bubble, he would be doing his own thing on the island.</p><p>After leaving, Ace waved goodbye to them with his two middle arms. Marco almost laughed as it looked very strange. Almost like there was another small person behind him waving. He waved back, and saw Ace was genuinely happy. Marco couldn't get mad at him for being happy Teach was gone for good. If Marco hated somebody, he'd be glad if they left, too.</p><p>Before anything, though, they had to tell the royal family what had happened. Pops was doing that while Namur and Marco waited for Neptune to go with them to address the forgotten people.</p><p>"I want to kill him," Namur said when they were both waiting against wall for the briefing to be done. They saw their brothers all branching off to do their assigned tasks to help their protected and scarred island. "I want to find him and kill him painfully."</p><p>Marco sighed, "Yeah. I'm furious, too. And not just cause of Thatch. I'm also mad he attacked Ace for no real reason." Namur nodded, and Marco was glad he cared about he faupta, too. "I worry about his plans. We have no idea what he wants to do with that wicked fruit. He never spoke of some other goal, some other dream. I would assume the lofty dream of being pirate king, or something like that. But why that fruit?"</p><p>Namur sighed. "I wish we'd never found that fruit to begin with."</p><p>"No, we still would have had a traitor on the ship. Even if we hadn't found that devil fruit, he had bad intentions from the start, or at least for awhile. You don't just suddenly want to kill somebody you've been family with for a decade. He was rotten from the start or somewhere along the way," Marco said. "We're lucky it happened like this. Nobody died. If this had happened at any other time, Ace would not have been here to save Thatch."</p><p>Namur sat down. "So we barely made it out of that situation with no casualties." Marco nodded. "Do you think there are any other traitors aboard?" the fishman asked in a low voice, quiet but audible.</p><p>The phoenix closed his eyes and leaned his head back. "God, I hope not. I think everybody will be thinking that for awhile. It'll take awhile to heal from this. Thatch is putting on a good face. Probably for Ace's sake. I mean, he was the one to Teach attempted to murder. He was never real close with Teach, but to us, Teach was family."</p><p>"I think, given it's <em>Thatch, </em>he's in complete denial. He'll shut down any negative thoughts and put on a brave face, like he's always done. Always focusing on everybody but himself."</p><p>"Besides his hair." That got a laugh out of Namur, who agreed. But the smiles faded immediately, and they were brought back to the present situation. "I'm glad at least somebody is happy. Ace doesn't have to see Teach ever again. I think I should have noticed Teach could be cruel when he was antagonizing Ace and then lying about it to us." Namur raised his brows, not hearing of this. "Teach was making fun of Ace, trying to provoke him. When me and Pops talked to him about it, he said he was just trying to make friends. I didn't think Teach lied. He was always so open, it seemed. I wonder how much of him was actually real, and how much was just a show?" It was a very gloomy conversation, and they were glad when the king came and interrupted it.</p><p>Marco was sure it was the same for everyone: the day went by in a haze. With far off looks, sudden bouts of anger or sadness. Once the day was done, Marco couldn't remember a lot of it. He couldn't remember the exact words that had been said to the fishmen in the forgotten land. There was no battle, though they did not want to conform. Neptune would do his best to welcome them.</p><p>The rest of it, Marco just couldn't remember. When he got on the ship, he found Thatch in the library, Ace napping on the couch across the room. He was hunched over his his head in his hands. "Hey, Thatch," Marco said quietly so to not wake the sleeping faupta. The chef didn't look up. "How are you?"</p><p>"My brother tried to kill me. How do you think I am?"</p><p>"Stupid question, sorry." He sighed and clasped his hands together. "How about 'how was your day?'"</p><p>Thatch liked this question more. "Cooked for everybody. I didn't have fun. It was a chore. That's never happened before, I <em>always </em>enjoy cooking," he said, sounding unsettled. "Don't tell me why, I know its from depression and shock. Still annoying and worrisome." He wasn't in a good mood, he was cranky. "The only thing that kept me from just leaving it to the sous chefs was Ace. I didn't want to leave him to work with those he doesn't know well. He's happy Teach is gone.</p><p>"He said it, though I know he didn't mean to upset me, he was just being honest. The bruise on his face is getting better, it's no longer swollen," Thatch added. Marco nodded, glad the damage was limited. He looked over at the faupta. Then he sighed and said he couldn't wait to leave and go back to the New World and pretend things were normal. "Yeah," Thatch agreed.</p><p>After a bit, Thatch said he had to get started on dinner. Marco nodded, and they both left Ace to sleep, Marco putting a blanket over him gently. He smiled at him fondly and then left to go do paperwork, write up what had happened that day, before dinner. He had awhile to do it. Then he could eat and hopefully go to bed.</p><p>While he was doing his paperwork, he was surprised to see Ace dart passed the open door. He waited for a second and then got up, only to see him dart passed in the other direction. "Ace? What are you doing?" Marco asked with an amused smile.</p><p>"<em>Ace has energy, want to rid of it," </em>the faupta said. Marco laughed and nodded, saying that corridor should be empty for the moment. But to be aware if someone was coming around the corner. Ace nodded. Marco shut the office door so he didn't hear the clicking noise of his claws hitting the floor, or the thumping footsteps.</p><p>For something so small and light, his footsteps were pretty loud. He heard when Izo came into the hall with the shout of surprise and skidding sound. "Ace? What are you doing?" Ace gave the same reason, and ran back in the other direction. Marco heard Izo laughing as he headed to his own office.</p><p>When the running and thumping stopped, there was a scratching on the door. Marco said he could come in, and Ace opened the door and walked in before going to his cushiony spot and laying down. "<em>Ace run too much now tired," </em>he said with a squeaky yawn and then slept. Marco shook his head fondly and continued his paperwork.</p><p>Once he was done, right as he was signing the bottom, Thatch knocked on the door. Marco stood and opened it. He was asking where Ace was, but then saw him sleeping on the comfy chair. "He was running around and tired himself out," Marco explained quietly. He smiled, and said he was running up and down the hall because he felt too energetic.</p><p>Thatch smiled and walked to him. "Ace, buddy? It's dinner time," Thatch said softly. Ace woke up with a small sneeze, jerking awake. Then he relaxed, realizing everything was fine. "Have a good nap?" Ace nodded and stretched. The three left the room, heading to the galley. Ace got his food and brought it to the table. It wasn't as quiet as breakfast, but it wasn't rambunctious at all.</p><p>When it was getting late, Ace went to his room, which was now full of nice furniture, his mattress wasn't just on the floor anymore, it was a real bed, and there was a rocking chair that Marco knew Ace used sometimes. There was also a carpet and another scratching post. They were on the walls in some places around the ship.</p><p>He bundled under his nice and thick blankets. Marco was on second watch that night, and at around 3:15, he felt Ace running up and down the main hall that had no bedrooms. He reminded Marco of a cat so much sometimes.</p><p>That day, the work was done again, but a pirate ship had arrived. They didn't want them to enter, but they couldn't just leave them out there. The Whitebeards met them at the main port, which the Moby Dick was no longer docked at, and when they entered, Marco was there. These might be Paradise pirates who didn't know of yonko crews or the Whitebeards, but they'd give the warning and threat regardless.</p><p>Unlucky for them, these pirates didn't know who the Whitebeards were. They were let inside, as Fishman Island always does so, and when they got off the ship, Marco and Jozu were there. "I'll get straight to the point. You won't do any damage to this island. You won't hurt anybody, steal anything or break any object or piece of property on this island," he said.</p><p>The pirates laughed and asked what made them the boss. "We own this island." Not technically, but it was the easiest way to describe that they were responsible for its safety.</p><p>"You don't own shit," the captain, Marco assumed, said. Marco was instantly there and punched him in the face. The other pirates attacked, but of course they didn't know haki and their weapons went right through Marco, his flames healing him instantly. He then beat the crap out of all of them.</p><p>He spoke to the guards of the bubble entrance, and asked them to coat that ship as soon as possible. They nodded, and Marco and Jozu tossed them all into the ship. The coating was started immediately. Marco trapped them inside by sticking the door shut so they wouldn't come off.</p><p>The two went back to work with rebuilding the main part of town, the busiest area. Everyone was at their homes, letting the pirates and kingdom officials do their work to repair the damaged island. They were probably pretty traumatized, too. Ace came around giving out drinks off the tray strapped to his back. He seemed more than happy to help in any way he could.</p><p>After a long day of work, things were coming along nicely. Marco made a detour on his way back, definitely needing a shower, and checked on the pirate ship that he ordered to be coated. It was being coated, but it looked like the door had been opened. He sensed nobody aboard. Maybe attacking them hadn't been the best idea, but it was the only way he felt he could get their strength across.</p><p>Maybe Pops should have been there, too. But they couldn't tutor every pirate crew about the New World and how it worked, who were the bosses of the sea, including Pops.</p><p>After dinner, with the mood a bit better and not so gloomy, Ace went to bed early, not having his required naps. When they'd asked him, finally, if he wanted or needed the naps, he said he needed them but took them when he wanted most times. "<em>Unless Ace tired sudden. Then sleep now," </em>he'd explained.</p><p>Marco had to say he was happy with everyone being on the same sleep schedule. Having half of his brothers awake at night was not the best. But it was back to normal now, and they wouldn't be sailing through the night anymore. Dangerous, stressful, but had been necessary.</p><p>It was in the middle of the night when Marco heard screaming, and shot awake. He jumped out of bed and smelled smoke. He grabbed the bubble coral and ran from the room, all of the commander's doors opening and slamming against the wall. They ran out, in various sleep clothes, shirtless or with pajamas. They sprinted out, all knowing there was a fire.</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. A Return To Normal?</h2></a>
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  <b>FunnyFen: lol Ace is definitely a little kid. A prideful little guy. I wonder how the marines would react to him, though. Either catch them or shoot him, damn assholes. He doesn't even need puppy dog eyes, he's already cute enough. He definitely is adored by them.</b>
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<h4 class="heading byline">Limloeth: lol there's another funny moment with Thatch in this one. The lovable chef.</h4>
<h4 class="heading byline">Spring_Of_Tears: Thank you! I'm glad you like it and my other stories. &lt;3</h4>
<h4 class="heading byline">Kucinggarong: Thank you! And because I must. I have to take advantage of every possible cliffhanger!</h4><p>
  <strong>Pia_Pia: (≧◡≦)</strong>
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  <b>Otaku_Girl2176: Lol better late than never! Teach cannot hurt baby Ace with the whole crew there, who will be there for their little brother with nightmares and such. </b>
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<h4 class="heading byline">Misselementst56: Thanks! Ace won't transform. He's proud to be faupta, not hooman! Besides, a transformed Ace into human form would probably not be uber adorable, which I made sure to make him in this one. Little baby Ace.</h4>
<h4 class="heading byline">Niss.Arsil: Poor baby is definitely gonna be terrified of Teach. Well, they'll get revenge. Damn human scum indeed.</h4>
<hr/><p>They banged on doors while they went. Marco headed to the hall with Ace, who he heard screaming and wailing scared noises. His door was in the exit hallway, the main one, so he was closest to the fire. Marco ran through it and stuffed his fire through the crack in the door. He grabbed Ace and kicked through the left wall, running out that door. Ace was coughing from the smoke, inhuman sounding. Sounding like intense sneezes.</p><p>The door was blocked, but Marco had a plan and blew the bubble out and around the flame, suffocating it inside the bubble as it burned up oxygen. They all got out of the room from the smoke and ran onto the charred deck and masts.</p><p>It was still smoking, and the back deck was on fire. Marco blew the bubbles up there, too. The fire was put out, but the ship was badly damaged. Marco knew who did it. He swore, and told everyone he knew who did it. Instead of thinking about how to fix the ship, they all went running behind Marco.</p><p>They could hear the pirates laughing inside. They burst through the door and killed all of them brutally. But they left the ship in tact so they could salvage wood from it. Not nearly big enough to fix it all, but it would be helpful. They left the bodies in a storage room, not wanting to throw them into the water.</p><p>They left and went back to the Moby, all of them downcast and depressed, near tears at their damaged ship. And it was all Marco's fault for resorting to violence on people who had no idea who the Whitebeards were, what they were capable of.</p><p>But when they got back, the ship was perfectly fine, and Thatch was holding a sleeping Ace in his lap, frowning deeply. They were all shocked and demanded to know what the hell had happened in the 20 minutes they'd been gone. Pops was there and said that Ace had fixed it, but was now seemingly sick.</p><p>He showed all signs of complete exhaustion, Marco could see. As if he hadn't slept in weeks, he had heavy bags under his eyes, was sweaty and pale. Thatch picked him up, and put his foulard over Ace's mouth from the smoke and then took him to the infirmary. Nobody was burned, but most had their throats burning and itching from inhaling smoke.</p><p>Pops asked if the people who'd done this were dead. "Yup. And painfully," Marco added. "Ace fixed the whole ship?" he asked in awe. "Even the interior?" Whitebeard shook his head. Only the worst parts, out on the deck. The inside hallway was still burnt.</p><p>"I would like us to do the fixing of that area," the captain said. "Ace has done more than enough." Marco agreed. It was late at night, but everybody got to work fixing the interior, with Ace's room filled with smoke and with the wall burst open. The door was burnt badly as well. If Marco hadn't been there, Ace would be dead. That thought made his hands shake, but after a few deep, calming breaths, he was okay again, and got to work.</p><p>After the wall was fixed enough, Marco went to the infirmary and found Ace was still asleep, tucked into bed, with the smoke no longer all over his face. He coughed in his sleep, but did not wake. "How is he?" Marco asked quietly. Thatch wasn't the one to answer, it was Tami.</p><p>"He's extremely exhausted and will probably be asleep for over a day. I've never treated anyone with this level of exhaustion. He'll need water and nutrients if he doesn't wake up for meals." She sounded sad. Thatch was quiet and watching him.</p><p>He said, "Thank you. For saving him. He was trapped in his room, right?" Marco nodded and said he didn't need to thank him. Marco went straight for Ace's room to get him, make sure he was okay. He was alive, but would he be traumatized by this? The first mate wouldn't be surprised if he was.</p><p>The ship was attempting to clear out the smoke as best as they could, keeping the door open to the outside. Fans were turned on to blow smoke down the hallway and towards the door. The ship was repaired by the end of that morning. Then everyone went to sleep but the many who couldn't stayed outside.</p><p>Luckily, the smoke was unable to pass through the bubbles. It wasn't confined there. Marco was proud of his instant idea to get the bubble coral to suffocate the flames.</p><p>Throughout the next day, work was done on the ship to get the damn smoke out as best as they could, while the rest were still helping to fix Fishman Island. Ace slept the whole day, needing the water and nutrients while he slept. Work was boring, and Marco was distracted. He felt responsible for Ace's condition.</p><p>It was his fault. Well, it was the pirates' decision, but he had started it. At least they were dead now. They deserved it after angering and endangering a yonko crew. There would have been no way for them to get away, even if they fled right away. Namur would have simply followed their floating ship and popped the bubble, imploding the ship under pressure or drowning all of them.</p><p>The kingdom quickly was repairs with the thousands of people working on it. The rest was really up to the royal family and the leading officers to convince everyone they were safe and that the kingdom had their backs. All of the imprisoned Fishman Pirates were in a new prison outside of the bubble.</p><p>They were fine to live out there, of course. A wall was erected around it with a roof so no one could get in and work to break them out. Fossa and his division had given great details and plans for the prison so it could be built properly. They wouldn't go out into the ocean and risk dying if a hammer or something sharp popped their bubbles and killed them.</p><p>It was up to the fishmen workers to fulfill that duty.</p><p>There was a contemplation going around the crew on the last day. Whether to return to the New World, or search and kill Teach for what he'd done, what he'd attempted to do. They did not talk to Pops about this, wanting to come to a consensus. Marco didn't know which side to choose. They were both legitimate for different reasons.</p><p>The crew felt almost dirty for not going after Teach. But there was also that devil fruit. Though they were proficient in haki. They could murder him with haki. Even a special devil fruit like that was not invincible. Maybe to people in Paradise it was, but New World pirates should know haki, so they had a chance, a possibility, to defeat him.</p><p>But there was also their protected islands. Venturing into Paradise would be like leaving them to fend for themselves. What would they choose? Logic, or emotions? So, they finally went to the captain with their concerns. When they'd voiced their wish to avenge Thatch's almost death and Ace's experience, he had sighed.</p><p>Marco felt that was a precursor for a big fat "no". He said, "I understand your feelings. I wish to make him pay as well, but we belong in the New World. This incident here showed our islands' needs for our protections. We cannot act solely on emotion and anger. We must have clear heads and think about the consequences.</p><p>"Leave the New World and fail our islands, lose members to the overpowered devil fruit and Teach's cruelty, act only on hatred and anger that will stay with us as we chase him. I know there will be a day to get revenge, but that day is not soon, I feel," he explained in a patient but serious voice.</p><p>They hung their heads, knowing he was right. "We will return to the New World and carry on. We can't let Teach's betrayal ruin us. Being sad about the betrayal is natural, anger is, too. But we cannot let the anger consume us and wipe out logic. We must move on, resume our lives as if Teach had never been here.</p><p>"Over time, things will get better and your anger will fade," the captain finished. The pirates on deck nodded, looking down but resigned. They knew Pops was right. "Now, let us finish our work, and then we can return to our normal schedule. And can finally go to islands and introduce Ace to the world a bit more," he said with a smile.</p><p>His sons nodded, and left for their final day of work. Ace didn't wake up. News had spread about the fire the night before, rumors going around, but none too bad for them. Nobody knew about Ace's doing of fixing the ship's exterior. He was glad they didn't. Nobody on the ship wanted any outsider to know of Ace's healing and repairing. Since he couldn't heal himself, it made him vulnerable.</p><p>Then he thought about Paradise, and how it would be even more dangerous for Ace there. More marines, which meant more greedy scientists. Plus, there were tons of weird islands in the New World that could have strange things like fauptas. Just because Ace was different didn't make him more vulnerable.</p><p>And Marco knew that nobles could want Ace as a pet, too. For him, it was best they stay in the New World. For their anger, it had to come second to the safety of the crew. He began to side with Pops, knowing all along he was right, but with denial in front of that. But that was now going opaque, and all he saw was the logic in not following Teach.</p><p>There was a feast offered to them that night, since their first one was ruined, but nobody wanted to do that. They had normal food the normal way, loud in the galley. They were tired of the island. Of working for other people. They were selfish pirates, so they were annoyed they had to spend over a week there. Fishman Island was beautiful, but there was little to do other than sight-see and shop. Well, it was a protected island, and it meant a lot to Pops, so they'd never complain about it.</p><p>During dinner was when Ace woke up and came in. Haruta was carrying him, and he still looked incredibly tired. He didn't get onto the table, but a pillow was brought in by Izo, and he put it in the corner, where Ace could lay down and eat. Marco looked and felt concerned, and asked why they took him in there. Why he wasn't eating in bed.</p><p>"He wanted to be around other people. Got lonely. He's still really tired, though," Izo explained. Thatch stopped cooking and left it to his sous chefs to go give Ace some company. He ate with the poor tired faupta, who was eating lethargically. Thatch made sure he drank some water. He fell asleep before his meal was finished, so Thatch carried him back to the infirmary, Ace propped up against his chest.</p><p>When he came back, he put Ace's leftovers in the fridge for if he woke up, he'd have the same meal. Thatch brought what was left of his meal to his usual table and sat with his brothers and fellow commanders. They were a bit sad for their youngest member. Atmos asked if the nurses knew when he'd no longer be exhausted.</p><p>Haruta answered, saying, "He'll probably be tired for at least another day and a half at most. We'll be gone by then." Marco felt sad Ace had to miss the way back up, but there was nothing to do about it. "I don't ever want him to have to do that again," Haruta said in a low, regretful voice.</p><p>The others nodded, and Marco finally said, "It was all my fault. When I told those pirates to not cause problems, they didn't know who we were, so I beat them up and locked them inside their ship. I didn't think they'd retaliate like that. I'm used to people not messing with us, y'know? So, I'm really sorry, everyone." He felt good after confessing.</p><p>Jozu said it was also his fault for not doing anything, either. He didn't tell Marco to stop. Nobody at the table seemed mad at them, and Izo said they couldn't do anything to change the past, so they should move on. Marco nodded and continued eating his food.</p><p>-x-</p><p>There was still much work to be done at Fishman Island, but it was up to its leading residents to fix the emotional and societal damage done to the kingdom. That didn't have anything to do with the Whitebeards anymore. They'd rebuilt so much of the island, cleaned it up, everything. Their work was done and complete.</p><p>Pops wished the king good luck, and jokingly said they didn't need to meet again anytime soon. "I agree, jamon. We won't cause you any trouble again," Neptune swore. Pops laughed and got onto the coated ship.</p><p>They'd done this many times, and got out of the port and blew up the bubble right at the exit, sailing out and back into the sea. Back to the New World. When Marco looked down from the ship, he saw the flotation device on the floor of the ocean. He got Pops' attention, pointing to it. "That wasn't there when we got here," he said, looking up. The yonko frowned, not doubting that Marco knew it had not been there.</p><p>"There was only one ship that left between landing and leaving. I don't see him being stupid enough to anger us and then go to our territory. And he couldn't man a ship on his own in the New World. I think it might have been brought there by a current," Whitebeard said. Marco knew that was the logical thing to think. And thinking about it, that was the only answer that would make sense.</p><p>Marco didn't doubt that he was going to get a crew, and do something with that devil fruit. Whatever his goal is now, well, it was no doubt in Paradise. The alternative was reckless and idiotic. He relaxed and just sat on the figurehead, watching the fish swim by, the sea kings ignoring them, the bottom feeders sticking to the ocean floor, creepy black fish with white markings akin to a skeleton.</p><p>Once the sun started to be visible, telling them they were nearing the surface, Ace came outside, walking on his own. Marco hurried over and saw Thatch come out right next to him. "Ace, it's nice to see you awake," Marco said, more coming over to ask how he was doing.</p><p>"<em>Ace still sleepy. But want see fish more," </em>he said, eyelids heavy. He yawned and showed his little pointed teeth, looking around. He sat down and just watched the light of day peeking out of the surface of the water, lighting up the deck with beautiful moving patterns. At the beautiful light, Ace fell back asleep. Though he was still tired, he looked much better. The bags were gone and he wasn't pale and sweaty.</p><p>He was brought to his new room. They'd converted a different storage room into a small bedroom, moving the sealed crates that had non perishables into Ace's old room that still had the smell of smoke inside it even after they did their best to clean and replaced the walls and floor.</p><p>When they broke the surface, they all cheered. They were to their home sea! Finally, things would be normal. As normal as things can get in the New World, that is. There was no storm, and it was day time. They sailed away from the Red Line with ease, everybody feeling uplifted, their spirits high and happy.</p><p>They sailed to the calmest island that they hadn't passed so Ace could venture onto one that wasn't too dangerous or intense. Their goal for now was to introduce Ace to the world. More of the world for longer periods of time. He slept much of the day again, but came out for dinner, where he was much more awake than his last meal.</p><p>He sat on the table on a pillow in case he fell asleep, which he did after eating a little pan of brownies for dessert. Marco carried him back to his room, cradling him. When he went back to the galley, he sat down to finish his own dessert, since everyone got something for celebration for the return to normal.</p><p>The next morning, Ace was back in action, able to run around and play like usual. But he was out on deck when a huge storm assaulted the ship not long into the New World. Nobody was surprised. This was the way it was, always had been and no doubt always would be. Marco shouted his name, trying to find him. The rain was pouring, making sight hard.</p><p>He could hear Ace's cries in fear and found him wrapped around the yardarm above. All six limbs were gripping the wood as tightly as possible, his many claws dug in. Marco felt he'd be safe there, but tied himself to the deck beneath him, just in case.</p><p>When the storm disappeared. Ace had his eyes shut and was still holding on, fur and hair soaked and flat. Marco flew up to him and sat on the yardarm. "Ace, the storm is over," Marco said gently. He put his hand on his back, and the little creature flinched. "Don't worry, you're safe now. We're safe," he soothed.</p><p>Ace relaxed his claws, and let Marco pick him up and bring him back onto deck. "Why don't we get some hot chocolate?" he asked, and the faupta nodded, walking inside on shaking legs, still scared. It had been sudden and he'd been caught off guard. Poor thing. Well, some hot chocolate should help warm him up.</p><p>When they entered the galley, Marco saw Thatch looking at a bloody knife. One of his cooking knives. He ran over, Ace following, legs not so shaky anymore. "<em>What? What wrong?" </em>he asked in worry. Thatch looked at his hand, staring at Marco dumbly.</p><p>The chef said, "I cut my arm on accident. But it's gone." Marco looked at the bloody arm, but there was no wound there. He took the arm and inspected it, but pushing on the skin didn't hurt. None of it did. He looked shocked, and Ace was worried. He asked if it was bad. "No, no, Ace. It's good. Thatch wasn't hurt."</p><p>Thatch suddenly said, "I have to stab Pops."</p><p>"WHAT?!"</p><p>"Ah! No, I didn't mean it like that! I mean, what if this has to do with Ace healing me? We should see if it works on Pops, too. Just a little injury, to see if it heals over. Then we can know with more certainty how this is possible." Marco nodded, snorting at how he worded it. Ace was confused.</p><p>"<em>Ace do good?" </em>he asked. Thatch said they were going to find out if the answer was yes or no. To see if his powers did anything for them. Ace ran out and to Pops, who was in his throne. He looked a bit distant, probably thinking about the traitor and how many times they'd gone to Fishman Island with him. Sick fuck. Who knows what he'd doing now, in Paradise.</p><p>Ace hopped onto Pops' knee, getting his attention and gesturing to Marco and Thatch, explaining shortly that Thatch got hurt but was better, now. Thatch had brought out the knife, and explained the situation. Of course Pops was fine with a small cut, and put his arm out. Thatch sliced a small cut into his arm. They watched as it bled, many coming over wondering why on earth they were cutting their father.</p><p>It sealed over, not a trace it was ever there besides the small amount of blood. Haruta came over, and said that it might have happened to all of them. Something strange, maybe. It was the New World, and Fishman Island was in the in the New World. So he offered to nick his own finger, but it didn't heal. He just got a bandaid put on it.</p><p>Whitebeard looked to Ace and said, "You can't use your healing power on anybody unless we give permission, okay?" Ace frowned, not understanding why, but he trusted the man and nodded, saying he wouldn't. "We can't let the wrong people get that power." Ace understood now and nodded again.</p><p>Then things resumed as normal.</p>
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  <strong>Tons of fluffiness in the next chapter!</strong>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Vacation</h2></a>
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    <h4 class="heading byline">Vann_Dorothy: It's good everyone is so understanding and loving with him in scary times.</h4><h4 class="heading byline">Kucinggarong: Whitebeard: "Bitch, you see my scars? You worry a papercut is gonna be bad? Insulting. But I love you anyway."</h4><p>
  <strong>Otaku_Girl2176: I can see Ace thinking peppers are offensive. Food isn't meant to be that hot lol. </strong>
</p><h4 class="heading byline">Misselementst56: Thank you, I'm glad you like my stories! At the end of chapter 1 I put a badly drawn reference of how Ace looks. He was modeled after somebody much cuter but I couldn't capture the cuteness. RIP Ace design.</h4><table class="table_kaomoji">
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<td><strong>Pia_Pia: (≧◡≦) </strong></td>
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</table><h4 class="heading byline">Neko_D_Haze: Thank you! I always want Thatch to live. I'm sad most fix its I've read by others only save Ace and Whitebeard. What about their loveable chef?! </h4><h4 class="heading byline">Kekegirl30: Ace, the best little pirate floof you'll ever meet.</h4><p>
  <strong>Shadow22739: If Whitebeard grew a beard then he would automatically need to be santa for all the children on his protected islands at Christmas and the wbs would be his elves. </strong>
</p><h4 class="heading byline">ISawAGh0st: Teach is definitely somebody who would kick a puppy. And thank you for all the comments on all of my stories! I'm so happy you like them all.</h4><hr/><p>
  <strong>Lots of Ace fluff in this one. The Whitebeards are the best family for our baby faupta. Enjoy~</strong>
</p><hr/><p>Ace was behind Marco's leg a bit, Haruta with them, too. They were on a protected island and Ace was allowed on it. Nobody would hurt him, and they'd stay there for a couple days so he could thoroughly explore it. They were wonderfully patient with him stopping to sniff everything, looking inside shop windows, asking what things were.</p><p>He had the mark stamped on his shoulder, so nobody should bother him, though they were staying with him anyways for safety. Couldn't have some idiot ruin it and hurt him. Nobody would let anybody else hurt him, even if it was attacking one of their own citizens. Their members came first.</p><p>Ace got lots of treats, a lot of candy and ice cream. He even got a snow cone but that give a brain freeze he'd neve felt before, and freaked him out. Haruta said it was normal when he got a brain freeze and got scared at the new feeling. So, after that he ate the cold things more slowly. He was allowed inside most shops because Marco was with them.</p><p>So many looked at him strangely or in shock, but knew he wasn't dangerous when he was with the commanders. They got him all sorts of different foods, and he was very interested in a red beaded necklace at a jewelers. Haruta bought it for him, and now he had a necklace that he seemed very proud of and showed it to everybody once they got back on the ship for the day.</p><p>"<em>Ace like beads," </em>he said at dinner, admiring it. Whitebeard said it looked very nice on him, and he smiled brightly at it, nodding. After he ate dinner, the faupta raced to his bedroom to go to bed, excited about going back on the island the next day.</p><p>The commanders were left eating their food, able to tell where Ace had gone, straight to bed. "He's so damn cute sometimes," Thatch comments while putting his cleaned plates in the dishwasher since Ace had zoomed off the minute he finished his meal.</p><p>Whitebeard said he was happy Ace was enjoying himself. "He got many weird looks, of course, but was so distracted by everything he didn't notice. He learned all about the island's shops. We spoiled him," Haruta explained.</p><p>Marco thought he deserved it. After being kept on the ship for so long, after healing Pops, after saving Thatch's life, he deserved to be pampered for a long time. He was their baby and they'd do anything to make him a happy one. After they were all done with dinner, they retired to bed, and once everyone was asleep, Marco had no doubt they could all tell Ace was taking advantage of the quiet nighttime to roam the ship.</p><p>Not loudly or quickly, just wandering around various places. He knew not to go outside during the night, so he kept all of his exploration inside. In the morning, there was a scratching at his door. He sat up and yawned before getting up. He opened the door to see Ace. "<em>On island, on island," </em>he said. Marco grinned and said they had to have breakfast first. "<em>Then fast breakfast."</em></p><p>"Okay, I'll eat faster than usual," Marco said, and went to get changed before going to the galley with Ace, who scarfed down his food and went to his room to get his new beads and then came out and impatiently waited for Marco to finish, who did eat faster. Marco thought it was adorable, like almost everything Ace did.</p><p>When they went on the island, this time the went into the forest of the place, Thatch tagging along this time. He explored everywhere, seeing new creatures and plants that he inspected, but sometimes growled and hissed at. Surprisingly, he was the most suspicious about big insects.</p><p>Marco handed him an apple from one of the trees at the edge fo the forest, and Ace ate it whole, very happy about his outing. But halfway through, he said he was tired and wanted a nap. So Marco picked him up and carried him around before his nap was over and he was reenergized to continue his outing.</p><p>"How do you know when you need a nap, Ace?"</p><p>"<em>Sleepy. Body heavy, too. Ace need sleep a lot, not know when," </em>Ace explained as he inspected a flower and then moved on excitedly, checking out all the different types of trees and animals up above. It was only natural that he was so interested in other creatures since none at his home island even looked remotely close to the common animals. Like squirrels, birds, and bunnies.</p><p>He never attacked them, besides the bugs, especially if they got too close. Ace didn't harm people, no matter if his fingers were literal daggers. He was peaceful. When they went back to the ship when they were all hungry, Ace was very happy, bouncing on his toes as he walked with them back to the ship.</p><p>-x-</p><p>The next island was a winter island, so they had Ace bundled up in a fluffy jacket, a beanie to protect his ears and a scarf. He also had specially made gloves and booties for his feet. He wasn't very comfortable in all of it since he usually was wearing no clothes at all, his fluff being all he needed.</p><p>But he was excited to go on land. Everybody was in their winter clothes, and when the snowy island came into view, they were all excited. All but Ace. Marco asked what was wrong. "<em>Ace never been at snow…"</em></p><p>"Are you nervous?" The faupta nodded honestly. "You don't have to go on if you don't want to. But we'll be there, too, so you'll be safe. It's an inhabited island with humans, but we're going to the part that isn't," Marco assured. As they got closer, Ace got a bit more relaxed, especially when Thatch could tell what was happening and brought him a hot chocolate with big marshmallows on top that he'd charred beforehand.</p><p>Ace happily drank it, warming himself form the inside. Marco gave the man a thumbs up and Thatch grinned. When they got to the island, Ace was standing with his hands pressed to the railing. The ship was buzzed, as even grown men couldn't help but enjoy the snow. When they got there, and docked, pirates ran off of the ship to act like children.</p><p>Marco and Thatch walked Ace off the ramp, and he was cautious about stepping into the snow but bravely did so even if he had his reservations. Marco was ready to take him back up if he got spooked, but he was brave enough to walk into the snow. His legs and arms were short, so he didn't exactly step out of the snow, rather he pushed through it, leaving a long trail behind him.</p><p>They found a place where the snow wasn't so deep, and Ace took part in a snowball fight, clumsy but having fun. He was hit by a ball in the face and fell backwards. Marco glared at his brother, who looked guilty. But then Ace started making a strange looking snow angel. Thatch flopped down next to him and made his own, with Haruta hurrying over to join.</p><p>Ace was grinning, very happy. He was having a great time. They stayed out and played in the snow for hours before Ace got tired and said he needed a nap. Marco wasn't surprised he needed a nap sometime after playing awhile. He walked with Ace back to the ship and to his room, where the faupta laid on his bed and immediately fell asleep.</p><p>Marco closed the bedroom door behind him. It was so like having a little kid, and Ace was adorable. Marco went and found Pops on the deck, sitting in his chair and enjoying the snow that was drifting down. He had a jacket on, the only real time he wore a shirt and not just his coat.</p><p>"How'd Ace do?" he asked with a smile. Marco told him about his bravery, the snowball fight and starting a mass snow-angel making. Dozens of pirates had joined in. Really, they were like kids in the snow, too. What was it about that that made people so childish? Was snow some magical thing that relaxed everybody, brought out a playful side? Or were his brothers all just morons? Who knew? "I'm glad he's enjoying the islands. It's nice to have somebody enjoy them for the first time," Pops replied, looking to the side at his playful children. "They look like fools." Marco nodded, admitting that they were all fools. All in their own special ways.</p><p>They weren't surprised, as they sensed it, when a snow bird dropped the newspaper on them. Marco opened it, sifting through meaningless things. Most things in the newspapers were useless marine talking points. They covered up many big events if it made them look bad or not in complete control.</p><p>When he made it to the second page, he saw it had to do with a break in at <em>Impel Down. </em>And then he saw who it was, and his face turned into a hateful scowl. Teach managed to break into Impel Down, but was said to have been killed the moment he entered. Marco found that unlikely. Teach would not have gone there unless he was completely sure he could get out.</p><p>It didn't say who he was, or what he wanted. Just that he broke in and then was killed. He handed the paper to Pops, who read it with a calm face. "At least we know he's in Paradise. We're far into the New World by now." Marco nodded and sighed, wondering what Teach wanted for real. What all of it was for.</p><p>He looked over the side of the ship and watched Thatch nail Haruta in the crotch with a snowball. Thatch could have been killed. If Ace hadn't snuck onto the ship for food, they'd have no head chef. But he smiled, knowing that was an alternate reality. The real one had everyone alive and safe.</p><p>Pops smiled and said that things were fortunate for them if Teach did as he pleased in Paradise, and stayed away from them and their territories. The first mate sat on Whitebeard's shoulder and watched the snow gather on the deck, looking satisfying as it slowly built up until a thin layer was all around the ship.</p><p>Ace came skidding out and rolling over in the snow, jumping up and looking a little confused. He looked down, surprised that there was snow on the deck, too. Then he laid down on his stomach and made a different snow angel. Pops smiled in amusement, and Ace stood up, looking at his work with an approving eye as he darted off the ship to play in the snow some more. "What a cute brat he is." Marco snorted, and had to agree.</p><p>-x-</p><p>Ace was snuggled in his bed, nose runny and stuffy with a sore throat. He had a cold, and everyone was fretting over it as Thatch made him perfect soup and fresh apple sauce. He made jello to make him feel better. Marco had been in the room with him when he had his temperature taken, and when he was told he was sick, the poor kid started crying, worried he'd die.</p><p>"You won't die, Ace," Tami said kindly. "You're just gonna be uncomfortable for a few days. The best thing for you is rest." Ace sniffled about wanting to play in the snow more. "That's what got you the cold, most likely. No more snow for now." Ace was so upset, and Marco assured him there were plenty of snow islands they'd visit.</p><p>And they weren't leaving any time soon. It was a vacation for them. So, Ace was taken care of perfectly, everyone doing whatever he needed. Pretty much treating him like royalty. But it was his first time getting sick with a human illness, so they were more than understanding. It scared him, a lot.</p><p>When he got better, he wanted to go in the snow again, and was allowed as long as he was even <em>more </em>bundled up. They couldn't say no to him when he begged to go into the snow again. This time, they spent most of the snow time on deck. It was deep enough to sink into but shallow enough for him to walk better.</p><p>He made big snowballs with the others and made a snow man. It was a bit deformed, and hard to make with his sharp fingers, but it turned out fairly well for being his first time. Thatch's was even worse, somehow. Izo was always the best at it, and made many detailed snow sculptures. And the chef was an idiot and jumped on them, earning a beating that had Ace hiding behind his own snow creation.</p><p>The whole thing was pretty amusing, and Pops clearly thought so, too, laughing from his chair, finally having his coat on completely.</p><p>-x-</p><p>"Happy birthday!" the crew cheered for Ace on the day that marked one year since he'd come. He hadn't matured much over the year in size of behavior, but if he was young, it's not like one year does the trick and matures them instantly. Plus, they didn't know how he'd grow cognitively. He sat on the table, looking at his cake with a big grin. Haruta lit the candle and Ace blew it out. He was so happy.</p><p>Marco and the commanders were keeping the news about Teach secret so they could all enjoy Ace's birthday. Of course it wasn't actually his birthday, as he didn't know the date or how old he was. It was a small cake just for Ace, and when it was cut for him, he ate it quickly, scarfing it down.</p><p>"<em>Yummy," </em>he said and ate some more. By the end, he'd eaten half the cake and was laying on his back, stuffed. They'd had a huge feast for the day. Usually they celebrated all birthdays together on New Years, which was a <em>crazy </em>event<em>, </em>since if they did each person's birthday, they'd have to have a party every day. Not that that would be <em>bad, </em>but they definitely didn't have the resources for a party every single night.</p><p>When the party started, the one with alcohol of course, Ace stayed on Pops' knee, snoozing despite the noise around him. Marco was glad the higher ups decided to not burst their bubbles and allow them to have fun. Breaking the news would be not fun at all. With Teach having attacked one of their islands, it was now time for them to target the traitor.</p><p>It had been months since his betrayal, and they hadn't forgotten or forgiven, never would, but he'd been in Paradise the whole time, being a nuisance to everybody, marines and pirates alike. As well as regular people. He killed them, too. Marco looked to Ace. He would be so scared if he saw Teach again.</p><p>Well, he wasn't outside during pirate attacks, never put in danger. Both because he'd be in the way or unsafe, but he also just didn't want to be out there. And he was afraid of storms, so he stayed inside there, too. During storms, a lot of the time Thatch stayed with him, soothing him when he covered his ears with his hands. Even though they came and went quickly, Ace still hid under beds or in closets for at least an hour afterwards. Poor guy.</p><p>When everyone was passed out drunk besides Marco and Pops to keep watch as they didn't get drunk so easily, they sat in silence until Ace awoke, and had a lot of energy he spent running around the deck, jumping over everyone's passed out bodies expertly. Then he announced he was going to his bed, and scampered inside.</p><p>Marco's smile faded, and he sighed. "Pops, you're still able to heal, right?" he asked quietly. Whitebeard took his bisento and sliced his arm. It healed over, and Marco sighed. Pops said, even if he wasn't in great health from Ace's blessing, he wouldn't lose to Teach or anybody else. Marco relaxed knowing he'd be okay. Thatch, too.</p><p>What would Teach think when he saw Thatch alive? After all, the man was so close to death when the traitor was there. But Ace saved the day. Something they noticed after the worst of the storms, or when aggressive sea kings challenged the ship, any damage that it sustained was fixed.</p><p>Ace's healing seemed to permanently be able to keep anything he'd healed or fixed healthy and in pristine condition. So far, at least, but it had been a year and Pops was still in great health. In the beginning, everyday he had a check up, which was once every two weeks now, and when Marco heard that the old man was perfectly healthy, it almost brought tears to his eyes.</p><p>Years of dreading his age and declining health were gone. For now, at least. When Ace was asked how long it lasted, he said it lasted as long as he wanted. But he said he'd only healed his favorite tree or his bird friend. They were perfectly safe after he blessed them. Well, basically everything on the island was not killable.</p><p>After all, all the fauptas had that ability. Ace wasn't the only one. With the many fauptas they had not seen on the strange island, most fixed their friends. So the creatures there were mostly unkillable. Marco wondered why they hadn't seen anything like Ace when they explored inland. Maybe they were all staying invisible.</p><p>Ace didn't use that much anymore since he had no reason to.</p><p>In the morning, the commanders announced the news. It was either a really bad thing or a really good thing that much of the crew didn't experience extreme hangovers. Well, Thatch made the concoction to take in the morning, so that had to help, too. It was disgusting, and the moment Ace had smelled it, he hissed at the drink, making everyone laugh about it.</p><p>"We have news that Teach is back in the New World and decimated one of our islands. We learned in the paper because the citizens didn't have the time to call for help." The galley erupted into anger while Ace crawled into Thatch's lap, who rubbed his ears softly. They'd both been through the incident together, so it made sense Ace went to Thatch for comfort.</p><p>The pompadoured man wasn't scarred or scared of Teach for doing what he did like Ace was. He was mostly angry about him hurting the faupta and making him get sick by healing the chef. Ace was scared of Teach badly. Nobody would let him get anywhere near Teach or his crew. And Marco felt exponentially better about it when they were saying they'd be going after them, that Pops was not in bad condition.</p><p>Teach didn't know about that, though. Nobody had said a thing about it until Thatch was healed. It was a good thing he didn't know, or he might have tried to take Ace, as well. And the faupta might have gotten scared enough to grant the traitor the blessing. That's what Marco called his healings. Because they were blessings.</p><p>"We won't tolerate him harming our protected islands. We will finally punish the traitor for what he has done," Whitebeard said in his booming voice. Everyone approved of going after him. Even though it had been months since the attempted murder, their anger and hatred flooded back in full force. They just had to make sure nobody was reckless with Teach having that overpowered devil fruit.</p><p>After the announcement, Ace wanted to go to his room, so Thatch brought him to his room, and the faupta crawled under all of his blankets to hide. Poor boy, so scared. It angered them that he'd traumatized the bright light that was Ace.</p><p>But they had to go face Teach and punish him for all of the traitorous things he has done. But now he had a strong crew, and there were murmurs of irritation that they'd <em>let</em> him get a strong crew and more practice with his fruit before going after him. And Marco had to agree that it was a bad move to not nip it in the bud like it should have been. But he didn't outwardly agree with the murmurs, not wanting to cause dissent or anger at Pops for a choice many thought wrong. It was their opinions.</p><p>Based on what island was destroyed, and the neighboring islands to that, it was irritating to have the New World log pose. It would be easier to track him if there were set destinations he had to go to. But he could be anywhere, even if doing this was a blatant challenge to the yonko crew. <em>Come and get me, </em>it said.</p><p>So, they set their course for their devastated island. Then they'd go from there. Marco was on the call when the commanders and captain all called their islands to warn them. Make sure, if they see the man they described Teach as, to call right away and then hide. It was scaring the shit out of their islands, but scared and prepared was better than oblivious and dead. They couldn't really do anything against Teach, though. Ordinary citizens were helpless.</p><p>When the calls were done, Ace was waiting outside the door. Marco asked what was wrong, and the faupta looked a bit embarrassed. "<em>Ace… want hug," </em>he said in a shy voice. Marco smiled warmly and picked him up to hug him. The little one wrapped his arms around Marco, his first friend on the ship. "<em>Ace protect, right?"</em></p><p>"Right, we won't let anybody hurt you," Marco said firmly. Ace seemed happy about this, and was put down to go run around. The first mate's expression hardened and he grew furious. Not a raging furious, but a cold one. That Teach damaged the crew in multiple ways and ultimately got away with it.</p><p>Pops came out of the information room looking a bit ashamed and regretful. "I have made a mistake."</p><p>Marco simply said, "It was right in the short term, wrong in the long term. But we can't change that, all we can do is to put that dog down now. And he doesn't know about you. How he stands no chance."</p><p>Whitebeard contested that, saying they shouldn't be too comfortable, even though he clearly knew there was a small chance that Teach could ever compare to him. But with this, with him challenging his former crew, it was inciting violence and confrontation that Teach might feel he had the upper hand in.</p><p>While that devil fruit was trouble, that alone couldn't cripple the captain. Marco walked outside and took in a deep breath of the fresh air. He looked to the side and saw Thatch at the railing, his elbows bent and resting on the wood. Marco walked over and stood next to him, leaning forward as well.</p><p>He waited for his brother to speak. It took a few long, silent minutes before he said anything. "I want to be stronger," Thatch confessed. Marco looked over at him, surprised. He was plenty strong. Thatch looked at his hands. Against that devil fruit, that was supposed to be his, he knew his swords wouldn't do enough. "I want to be able to actually defend myself. I don't want to let Ace or anyone to ever get so scared again.</p><p>"I don't want anybody to worry about me," Thatch said firmly, clenching his fists and then sighing. He looked up at the orange sky, as the sun was now setting. Marco quietly pointed out that his haki was better than Teach's. "He only got that devil fruit because I wasn't strong enough to keep it. I should have eaten it immediately. Then he wouldn't have gotten it. Wouldn't have killed so many innocent people…"</p><p>Marco hadn't thought of Thatch's feelings in this way. He felt responsible for everything bad that had happened regarding the traitor. Marco looked out at the orange sea reflecting the sky, and said, "Then spit in his face by being alive. The commanders will be the ones taking care of him. He's too strong for anybody else to take on." Thatch nodded.</p><p>They could both feel Ace run below them, sprinting down the hall only to come back. "I wonder how Ace and Stefan would have gotten along?" Thatch asked with a light smile. "I wonder if they could have spoken together." Marco said they'd never know. "Then Stefan could have told us his kidneys were failing."</p><p>"God, way to make it morbid," Marco scoffed. "Besides, Stefan couldn't be able to tell that was what was happening. And… we know how old age works, Thatch." The chef grinned and pointed out that Ace didn't. "True. He's made two blessings." Thatch smiled and nodded. Neither sensed Ace run back again.</p>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Final Conclusion</h2></a>
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  <b>Vann_Dorothy: There is no limit to  the power of cute fluff</b>
</p><h4 class="heading byline">Kucinggarong: hiss and puffed up fur lol. Ace does not approve or Teach or hermit crabs.</h4><p>
  <strong>Pia_Pia: ( ‾́ ◡ ‾́ )</strong>
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<td><strong>Shadow22739:(ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ</strong></td>
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  <strong>Otaku_Girl2176: lol Ace just didn't ran back down the hall. Sorry to worry you! I guess ending on that sentence made it sound dark! </strong>
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  <strong>Last chapter, and very short! I'm glad so many people thought Ace was so damn adorable. it was a pleasant surprise. I'll be posting the story replacing this one later. Thanks for reading! Enjoy~</strong>
</p><hr/><p>Teach was clearly confident in his skill and ability to triumph over the Whitebeard pirates. Why? Because he didn't run. He burned down the city of another one of their protected island and sat on a chair in the ash. It was like he was trying to piss everybody off. To really provoke them, even in the moment.</p><p>The crew were evacuating the injured islanders onto the Moby Dick to get away from whatever battle may ensue. Marco was on the ship when this started, as they landed at the back, and only found Teach mocking them once venturing in land, which he was just waiting for. But Marco was on the ship when it mattered most.</p><p>He was the only one in that area that had superb observation haki. So, he sensed the strong man get on, who also happened to be invisible. He grabbed them by the hair and threw them into the water below. As they were clearly a devil fruit user. The man, a rough looking guy, became visible once he hit the water.</p><p>Marco looked down at him. "You one of Teach's cronies?" he asked coldly. The man stood up and glared at him. Marco was there immediately and snapped his neck, tossing him down. He shouted for the citizens to hurry, and soon the ship was boarded. Ace was kept safely inside, hidden under Marco's bed, which was surrounded by many pillows and blankets so nobody could get him, could see him.</p><p>The ship sailed away while the commanders besides Izo saw it off, making sure nothing abnormal happened to it. Izo was the weakest one against Teach. He only worked with his guns, had no real brute strength like some of the larger members with guns. So he was guarding their ship full of innocent islanders. Men, women and children. They were the Whitebeards' responsibility once they raised that flag of protection on their island.</p><p>The fourteen of them and Pops walked to where they easily sensed Teach. He was sitting on a chair in the middle of the remains of a home. He had to have done <em>this </em>part on purpose: his chair was right next to a torn apart and burnt teddy bear. It angered all of them, but they kept their cool.</p><p>Thatch smirked when Teach saw him and looked shocked. "Thought you could get rid of me that easily?" he challenged. Teach wasn't looking so cocky anymore, now he was angry and on guard. His betrayal didn't actually kill anybody. It left no casualties besides making Ace ill for a bit. Nobody died.</p><p>"I was wondering why nobody came after me," he said in a growl.</p><p>Marco said, "You weren't worth the time or effort then. We had other things to do." Pops was staying silent and stoic, never breaking eye contact. "Now where's your crew of convicted felons? I hope it isn't only the guy who can turn invisible, because his neck is broken and he is drifting to the bottom of the sea."</p><p>Teach looked enraged and truly shocked. Must have been a stronger member of his new crew. Well, Marco took care of him easily. They then sensed presences coming out of hiding. They had all hidden theirs okay enough to not be glaringly obvious, but they weren't completely hidden from haki.</p><p>The invisible guy clearly thought he could get on the ship with only his devil fruit. Fool. <em>Dead </em>fool. Pops had still said nothing before he sighed, sounding disappointed and unimpressed, which infuriated Teach. This was clearly not going the way he'd wanted it to. "Take care of the others, my sons."</p><p>"Aye!" the commanders shouted and dispersed to battle the others. Marco was staying with Pops for back up in case he needed it. Teach was grinning at him wickedly. Marco was sure he thought he was dealing with an elderly man with a failing body. To him, Pops should have gotten <em>worse, </em>not better. It was really lucky Teach hadn't known about Ace's blessing or they'd be screwed and Ace possibly dead.</p><p>The island may be destroyed in the fight, which was why they evacuated, but Pops knew his sons were there, too, so he would do as little damage as he was able. Teach rushed forward at Pops, who didn't even move his bisento, he used one fist and slammed it into Teach's face. He hadn't even used haki or his devil fruit. He knew the enemy devil fruit would nullify its affect, and he felt it would be embarrassing to use his power and not have it work. But it angered Teach, and he brought out his guns.</p><p>They were in his waist band, even if Marco had never seen him fight with guns in the first place. It was usually the metal claws or a single knife. But he was living a lie that whole time, so Marco really wasn't surprised. Neither of them worried when he started firing the guns as his colleagues had a lot of trouble.</p><p>Jozu had already offed the one he was against and was now assisting Vista with the largest man in the sea. So, Teach started shooting all his guns at Whitebeard. It scared Marco, and he only showed slight worry with biting the edge of his lip until he grinned when the bullets were pressed back out of the wounds, the injuries healing.</p><p>"WHAT?!" Teach shouted in shock and utter fear. "HOW?!" Marco grinned and said some things had changed.</p><p>"If you thought you could beat Pops because he was old and declining in health, then your plans are all ruined. Now, come and die quietly. Don't embarrass us further," Marco said coldly. Teach looked so lost on the situation before the captain took a single step forward, which made Teach cower.</p><p>It was truly pathetic and embarrassing. But he knew he poked the bear with a stick. Only the bear was at peak condition. Pops had a large black puddle form under him, and he easily jumped and then slammed his bisento into the black before activating his devil fruit. It was a theory the man had.</p><p>No devil fruit should be this strong. There were always unseen weaknesses in devil fruits, ones not recorded in books. This one was that the blackness lead to a different dimension, maybe a pocket, so he only activated his quirk within the power, not against it. And it worked, as the black matter exploded outwards, papering the ground with black dots that looked like ink.</p><p>When he was shocked, Marco flew forward and grabbed onto both arms with his talons and pinched. His arms were both now useless and hanging by his side. "No!" he shouted in anger and shock. This was not the outcome he'd expected. He hadn't even thought of the possibility of not winning in his way. Teach listened as his crew screamed, the sounds of bodies falling. He could only look behind his two current opponents to see the ground, the charred, ashy remains, covered in his crew's blood.</p><p>"Did you forget that I am a yonko? I may be old, but I am still the strongest man in the world," Pops said in a deadly voice. Full of ice and disdain. Teach started to run, as it was all he could do. With the captain not even needing to rely on his devil fruit, Teach was weak without his. And since weapons did not work on the captain, there wasn't much more he could do but run hopelessly.</p><p>"This is humiliating, Teach," Marco called. The sniveling man didn't stop before Pops slammed his bisento down and that made the ground shake. Then he was in front of Teach like he was an immovable force of natural, and sliced Teach apart as he screamed and writhed on the ground. It was… anticlimactic.</p><p>While they all wanted revenge, none of them seriously thought he or his rookie crew could defeat any of them. They all didn't doubt their strength for a second. Well, some did, but not all of the commanders. The only one truly worried had been Thatch, but even he knew this time and last time were different.</p><p>The first time Teach showed his true colors, Thatch didn't even have his swords with him. And he didn't suspect a brother to betray him, either. The commanders were all done with their respective fights, and came to see the bleeding chunks that had been Teach. Haruta commented that this was a boring outcome. "But not one that we didn't expect."</p><p>Namur asked how on earth the traitor thought his baby crew could beat a yonko crew. The others shrugged. They took the bodies and dragged them to the shore and threw them into the water to sink to their deaths. The really huge guy standing in the ocean was already sunk to the bottom of it, unable to fight back quickly due to his size.</p><p>Nobody felt sad when they watched Teach sink. The pieces of him sinking, that is. He wasn't in one piece still. They watch until they were so deep nobody could see them anymore, and then had the ship return. Marco lead everybody back onto the island, saying it was safe now. They would be helping to rebuild this island, and then visit the previously attacked island to help them out. It would be a long time before their journey began again.</p><p>When he didn't see Ace on deck, Marco went inside to his bedroom, and sensed Ace under the bed. "Ace, Teach and his crew are gone for good," Marco said, slowly pulling a pillow out so he could see the little faupta.</p><p>"<em>Ace safe?"</em></p><p>Marco smiled and nodded. "You're safe. Teach won't ever hurt you or even see you again. And we'll protect you from everyone we need to. You're our baby brother."</p><p>"<em>Ace not baby," </em>he said. Marco laughed and changed it to "little" brother. "<em>Ace like better." </em>He came out and Marco walked him outside, him sniffing the air and finding no scent of Teach. Marco smiled and walked onto the island with him to go to the city that was still in tact and talk with the island's leaders.</p><p>They found out Ace liked eating on a certain type of huge beetles. It was gross, but he snatched only those off of trees as they walked through a path surrounded by the woods. Ace was very happy to know Teach was gone for good. He was so excited and happy he didn't take a single nap that day, but you can bet he crashed during the celebration, and slept in Pops' lap.</p><p>Marco smiled as he drunk his mead, so happy his father and brothers were safe and unharmed. It was so pathetic, but a fitting end for a traitor like him. Embarrassing and humiliating as he was killed. The party lasted much of the night and into the morning. Ace slept the whole time, all tuckered out, but in a good way.</p><p>Marco was glad he snuck onto the ship so long ago and stayed for good.</p><p>The End</p>
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